What is the accepted view of SSRIs amoungst neuroscientists and pychiatrists? Although clinicians are keen to perscribe them, I have heard many risks associated with their long term usage.

Well, I'd think that many in the neuropsychological field support them, since they support the neurobiological basis of neuropsychiatric disorders. Psychiatrists are able to prescribe medications, so they are often very strongly in favor of the SSRI's. The SSRI's are far from foolproof, but there is extremely strong evidence that low serotonin causes depression, aggression, irritability, and obsessive-compulsive behaviors. The bad thing about the SSRI's is that they do not work for everyone. I'm one example. I went through three different SSRI's for my OCD, and they didn't do anything. After having stopped the SSRI's, I was diagnosed with Asperger's, in addition to the OCD, and the SSRI's obviously didn't help the obsessive-compulsive behaviors associated with Asperger's, because the symptoms were still blatantly obvious- enough to garner a diagnosis. However, they are miraculous medications for many, and they have significantly less side effects than the tricyclics or MAOI's, due to the fact that they specifically target serotonin, not serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.
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