I've been on Paxil for 2 months now at 25mg of ER. It works pretty much immediately, but reaches it's full effect after about 1 month or so.

It's hard to describe. I rember in the beginning I felt really "dumbed down" and slow but that went away as the medication balanced out in my system.

Now, I just feel pretty content. I can wake up and go to work without getting super neurotic or having obsessive thoughts/emotions dominate me.

Socially, I've noticed I dwell on things less that would normally bother me. Everything seems like less of a big deal. The biggest benefit is when I'm in public, I feel like I can go outside around people and not have any anxiety.

However, it did not turn me into a social butterfly. In fact I feel often LESS motivated to talk to people, though I can, I choose not to because I'd rather just be alone. So if your an introvert like me, don't expect the medication to 180 you into an extravert. It just won't happen. But it may help you to dwell a little less on what people think of you. Though, I still can do that even on medication...it's just not as instense.

As for negatives, I would say I feel less motivated to do creative things I normally would want to do. So that is a downside unfortunately. Also, I feel like the medication kind of changed me, not that I'm robotic, but just that something "extra" that was there before isn't while on the medication. I kind of miss my normal unmedicated self TBH.

I hope this has been a helpful, honest review. Cheers on your journey.