juliec,

Have you had any blood work done? B-12, folate, D-3, all of the hormones, etc. I would make sure they are al up to par before any consideration of an SSRI. I have been on Paxil for 10 years and it is not an easy road. My brain can easily get stuck looping mundane thoughts. A stanza to a song, license plate number, the spelling of a word, all can get stuck repeating for hours or even days. So the Paxil is worth the side-effects. But for general anxiety issues, I would try general nutrition long before an SSRI.

What symptoms are your primary complaints?