LEFT and RIGHT-handed people with treatment-resistant depression improve equally with rTMS
Interestingly, handedness (i.e., whether an individual is right or left handed) might indicate which side of the brain/body is more dominant. Potentially, this could affect the intensity of stimulation that left or right-handed people need. Additionally, rTMS is delivered to the left side of an individual’s head. This region of the brain controls the right side of your body — raising the question as to whether rTMS is equally effective for left and right-handed people. This could have important impacts for depression treatment.
Can accelerated rTMS (iTBS) be used in place of ECT with severely depressed patients to achieve the same results?
Paper authors: Michelle Goodman, Alisson Trevizol, Gerasimos Konstantinou, David Boivin-Lafleur, Ram Brender, Jonathan Downar, Tyler Kaster, Yuliya Knyahnytska, Fidel Vila-Rodriguez, Daphne Voineskos, Zafiris Daskalakis, Daniel Blumberger Year of paper publication: 2025 Post authors: Alice Erchov, Sarah Kesler, Fidel Vila-Rodriguez Download the research article: Goodman et al. (2025) Extended course accelerated intermittent theta burst stimulation as […]
Differential symptom cluster responses to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatment in depression
Everyone experiences depression differently. Few studies have looked at how individual symptoms change across treatment, and how they might be related. Specifically, this study was interested in individuals with treatment-resistant depression and how they respond to new, effective repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatments (or the shortened version, iTBS).
Evaluation of the effects of rTMS on self-reported quality of life and disability in treatment-resistant depression: A THREE-D study
Depression doesn’t just affect mood. It also impacts an individual’s ability to function in daily life. This study explored how the use of rTMS and iTBS as new, safe, non-invasive, and effective treatment(s) for treatment-resistant depression affected individuals’ quality of life and levels of disability.
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).