Patient-Oriented Articles
Are you someone who is considering or receiving neurostimulation treatments? Have you been wanting to learn more, but finding it hard to find clear, informative, and engaging information?
For years, the NINET Lab has studied and published scientific articles on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), and magnetic seizure therapy (MST). The aim of our work has been to increase our knowledge and use of these novel treatments, which are capable of helping even severe forms of psychiatric conditions (e.g., schizophrenia, depression) that don’t respond to first-line treatments.
However, the articles that publish this research are often inaccessible due to their scientific language or financial barriers. But with the help of our patient partner, knowledge translation consultant, and a generous grant from the The Michael Smith Health Research BC Reach Program, the NINET Lab has begun this project to translate these text-heavy articles into summaries and infographics that anyone can understand.
We hope this project can help raise awareness about the potential of interventional brain stimulation, empower people to make informed decisions about their psychiatric care, and assist in the shaping of public policy.
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Understanding the Common Side Effect of Pain During Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Treatment
The symptoms of depression are bad enough without enduring side effects from the medications used to treat them. Newer treatments without drugs include repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), a non-invasive procedure where patients receive a series of short magnetic pulses over the scalp to stimulate the nerve cells of the brain. Daily 40-minute treatments using a protocol called high-frequency stimulation (HF) are delivered for 6 weeks, however this can be shortened to daily 3-minute treatments using a protocol called intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS).
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Predicting Response Trajectories for Suicidal Ideation and Negative Mood among Patients with Depression receiving rTMS
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) therapy has been found to be a non-invasive, safe, and effective way of treating depression – even in individuals who do not respond to usual antidepressant medications. In this study, we were interested in how rTMS changed people’s depressed mood and suicidal thoughts.