Paxil Addiction? Controversial Issue with Differing Opinions

The manufacturers of Paxil contend that a Paxil addiction is not possible because this medication is not physically addictive. Many lawsuits, however, such as the 2004 complaint brought forward by Vickie McCarthy, counter with claims that this SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) anti-depressant is addictive.

In order to keep pace with addiction developments, substance abuse professionals employ a range of statistical methods to track changes and variances in drug use. Search frequency research is one method in this pursuit. The following graphs represent an analysis of the query results for phrases involving the word Paxil over a one-year period, as well as related phrases.

Side Effects of Paxil – Extremely Well Searched

The side effects of Paxil can include a wide range of symptoms, such as decreased sexual activity, constipation, diarrhea, dizziness, headaches, drowsiness, increased sweating, nausea, trembling and dryness of mouth. The three most commonly searched phrases which reflect the public’s curiousity about this topic, “Paxil side”, “side effects of Paxil”, and “side effects Paxil”, show the prevalence of this concern with hundreds of thousands of searches (see Graph 1 below).

This contrasts other SSRI anti-depressants studies presented on this website, where the concentration of queries involves the purchase of the medication (see the Lexapro, Celexa, Prozac studies). This difference is not altogether surprising, because Paxil is considered to have the most extreme side effects of the SSRI anti-depressants.

Paxil Addictions Research - Prevalent Search Topics - Graph 1

(Continued on Graph 3 at the bottom of this page)

Top 30 two and three word combinations

	estimated searches/year across all search engines
	30,000		250,000
paxil side	234679
paxil withdrawal	149384
side effects of paxil	137657
zoloft paxil	121698
prozac zoloft paxil	111690
prozac zoloft	111690
paxil online	81204
paxil weight	78782
buy paxil	70254
paxil drug	63127
prozac paxil	56614
paxil zoloft	54977
generic paxil	54730
what is paxil	54615
zoloft vs paxil	52818
paxil withdrawal symptoms	51859
paxil vs zoloft	51103
zoloft versus paxil	51100
paxil or zoloft	49642
zoloft or paxil	48185
paxil versus zoloft	48180
paxil class action	42358
taking paxil	40945
paxil withdrawl	39260
paxil weight gain	36866
drug paxil	36058
paxil and weight	35777
side effects paxil	35232
quit paxil	33584
celexa paxil	33507
	30,000		250,000

Paxil Withdrawal Symptoms – Highest Incidence Rates

Along with some harsh side effects, Paxil withdrawal symptoms, considered by most professionals to be a component of SSRI Withdrawal Syndrome, are also considered to be the most severe. These symptoms include weight loss or gain, headache, nausea, sexual dysfunction, repeated electric shock sensations and insomnia. In Graph 1, three phrases “Paxil withdrawal”, “Paxil withdrawal symptoms” and the misspelled “Paxil withdrawl” garnered 240,503 searches. In Graph 2, “withdrawal” is the 6th most commonly used word in Paxil searches.

Paxil - Prevalent Words and Concepts Study - Graph 2

Top 100 words used in Paxil searches
(Top 1000 can be found at Top 100 Paxil exact phrases and top 1,000 concepts/words. - Graph 5)

	estimated searches/year across all search engines
	0		530,000
side	515584
zoloft	500232
vs	302150
weight	242189
prozac	240347
withdrawal	236746
alcohol	174751
gain	143394
celexa	136283
drug	113552
versus	112688
pregnancy	106543
from	101736
online	99933
buy	94819
anxiety	94548
symptoms	92283
information	89254
generic	77489
lexapro	76391
what	72267
loss	62361
weaning	58029
long	54739
effexor	53878
how	53240
medication	53233
term	53004
withdrawl	52921
action	51627
class	51390
lawsuit	51015
xanax	48656
discount	48106
quit	45794
prescription	45000
interaction	42668
taking	42585
paroxetine	42420
depression	41169
suit	36599
quitting	35520
stopping	34441
lawsuits	33081
stop	32150
about	30239
ejaculation	30151
affects	29845
premature	29786
social	29729
wellbutrin	29326
cheap	28601
order	28384
drinking	27504
pharmacy	27433
ocd	26180
interactions	25621
problems	25591
law	25589
dosage	25302
lawyer	24894
getting	24174
suicide	24072
going	23733
recall	23619
physical	22632
injury	22631
losing	22048
alternatives	21898
forum	21537
canada	21384
marijuana	21131
pregnant	20951
dosages	20805
litigation	20441
withdraw	20110
against	19463
overdose	19290
info	19169
boards	18915
abuse	18861
bad	18765
antidepressant	18666
discontinuing	18255
addiction	17626
purchase	17593
medicine	16801
warnings	16800
withdrawel	16798
sideeffects	16790
message	16608
symptom	16364
success	16213
better	16179
20mg	16177
settlement	16086
dose	16073
withdrawls	16061
sale	15953
buspar	15889
	0		530,000

Innovative Addictions Research Sponsored by Montreal Rehab

Clear Haven Center, a progressive drug and alcohol rehab center near Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is leading the way in the sponsorship of search frequency analysis as an innovative form of addictions research. Keeping abreast of addiction trends and developments is an important component of the philosophy and treatment programs. Read more interesting studies on a variety of substance abuse issues throughout this website.

Paxil - Prevalent Search Topics, Continued - Graph 3

Top 31 - 100 two and three word combinations
(Top 30 are in Graph 1 above)

	estimated searches/year across all search engines
	10,000		35,000
quitting paxil	33330
information on paxil	32124
stopping paxil	31917
paxil and weight gain	31394
prozac vs paxil	30665
about paxil	30232
celexa vs paxil	30198
stop taking paxil	29938
anxiety paxil	29384
paxil lawsuit	29358
paxil celexa	29200
paxil and alcohol	28782
order paxil	28252
cheap paxil	27381
drinking alcohol	26259
paxil vs lexapro	25915
paxil law	24821
paxil vs celexa	24820
paxil lawyer	24820
paxil paroxetine	24625
paxil alcohol	23801
paxil weight loss	23507
weaning off paxil	23178
going off paxil	22633
paxil injury	22630
effexor paxil	22557
paxil medication	21539
paxil drug interaction	21170
paxil cr discount	21170
alternatives to paxil	20667
getting off paxil	20665
paxil weaning	20552
paxil vs prozac	20440
paxil long term	20115
paxil withdraw	20089
paxil social anxiety	19711
paxil forum	19710
drinking alcohol with paxil	19710
paxil side affects	19565
discount paxil	19563
withdrawal from paxil	19407
paxil dosage	19300
buy paxil online	19180
paxil canada	19144
paxil xanax	19128
paxil premature ejaculation	19090
paxil for depression	19019
paxil overdose	18980
lexapro vs paxil	18980
paxil abuse	18858
paxil while pregnant	18633
discontinuing paxil	18255
paxil and pregnancy	18254
lawsuits against paxil	18250
medication side effects paxil	18250
paxil information	17666
purchase paxil	17593
weight gain from paxil	17520
paxil class action suit	17520
lexapro paxil	17307
pharmacy paxil	17202
paxil anxiety	16849
paxil pregnancy	16793
paxil warnings	16791
paxil withdrawel	16790
paxil cr and pregnancy	16790
paxil sideeffects	16790
paroxetine paxil	16654
paxil during pregnancy	16443
paxil generic	16372
	10,000		35,000