Over the past ten years, researchers have had the opportunity, at the Feighner Research Institute, to work with paroxetine, fluoxetine and other selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors. They maintain that these drugs represent a significant addition in psychiatry because of their relative lack of side-effects and broad range of potential clinical indications. Indeed, their widespread and increasing use in the United States and other countries underlines this importance. This book reflects the state of the art in terms of the clinical issues surrounding these medications. The first chapter of the book reviews the evidence that points to the effects of these drugs on serotonergic function and the central role of serotonin in many psychiatric disorders, while the following chapter reviews the pharmacology of the selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors. The remaining chapters contain reviews of clinical trials of the selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors in many of the conditions previously mentioned, concluding with a chapter on important clinical issues in the use of these agents. This book is aimed at all those who take care of depressed patients, but especially at residents and clinicians in psychiatry and general medicine. Clinicians are confronted daily with human suffering and require knowledge of what is both safe and effective for their patients. This is a different stance from that of the pure scientist, who accepts nothing as fact until replicated experimental evidence is available. Hence the purpose of this book is to review the available evidence from a clinical standpoint.