Turning down the frequency for successful magnet therapy

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) involves placing electrodes on people's heads and passing brief but strong magnetic pulses through their brain. Canada and Israel already use this technology to treat people with major depression and in the U.S. the Food and Drug Administration has recently approved this treatment. The pulses can be fast- or slow-frequency and it has been suggested that slow-frequency pulses may be safer and have fewer side effects. D.J.L.G. Schutter from Utrecht University in the Netherlands reviewed 9 studies into this topic involving 252 participants. He found that slow frequency TMS had a beneficial effect on people and could be just as effective as fast-frequency TMS.

Schutter, D.J.L.G. - Quantiative review of the efficacy of slow-frequency magnetic brain stimulation in major depressive disorder Psychological Medicine November 2010, 40(11), 1789-1795

Magnets make a difference for depression

Magnets could be used to help people suffering from depression. Researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina studied the technique of transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy which applies magnets to people's heads to stimulate certain parts of their brain. The study divided 190 people, who were depressed and had not responded to medication, into two groups. One group received the genuine treatment while another group received a sham 'placebo' treatment. 14% of the group receiving the genuine treatment showed an improvement compared to only 5% of the group receiving the sham treatment. However, 12 people would need to be treated using the new technique for one to be cured of their depression.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7672876/Magnets-could-be-new-drug-free-treatment-for-depression-research.html

TMS and hearing voices - study shows disappointing results

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) involves the use of strong, fluctuating magnetic fields to stimulate the surface layers of the brain's cortex. Some studies have shown TMS to be effective in treating auditory hallucinations but a study by researchers at the University of New South Wales has had disappointing results. Eighteen people with schizophrenia had either genuine TMS or a sham treatment for three days. The study found no difference in people's hallucinations between the group who received the genuine TMS treatment and the group who had the sham treatment.

Loo, C.K. ... [et al] - A sham-controlled trial of left and right temporal rTMS for the treatment of auditory hallucinations Psychological Medicine April 2010, 40(4), 541-546

Boosting brains with magic magnets

Magnetic stimulation of people's brains could help them learn how to carry out complex motor tasks. Researchers from the University of British Columbia studied 30 volunteers as they attempted to track a target on a computer screen using a joystick. Sometimes the target moved randomly and sometimes it moved according to a pattern; this allowed the researchers to distinguish between the participants learning to follow the pattern and the effects of practice at using the joystick. Some of the participants were given stimulation designed to boost the activity of a part of the brain called the dorsal premotor cortex, others were given stimulation designed to inhibit this activity while others were given 'sham' stimulation. Those participants whose dorsal premotor cortex had been boosted performed significantly better in the learning part of the test.

You can read more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090706192043.htm

Magic magnets licensed in the U.S.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation therapy (TMS) has been licensed for the treatment of severe depression in the U.S. The therapy does not involve drugs or invasive procedures and works by stimulating nerve cells in an area of the brain that is linked to depression by delivering highly-focused magnetic pulses. The treatment takes around 40 minutes and does not require anaesthesia or sedation. Over 10,000 treatments performed so far have produced only minor side effects of mild-to-moderate scalp pain.

You can find out more about Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation therapy at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/10/13/last-chance-therapy-for-depression/3119.html

Magnetism and misery

The term vascular depression has been used to describe late-life depressive disorders in patients with evidence of cerebrovascular disease. Some studies have suggested that vascular depression is more long-lasting and more resistant to treatment than early-onset depression. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), in which powerful magnets are moved back and forth over the skull, has been proved to have an antidepressant effect in some studies but little research has been done on its effectiveness in treating older people or those with cerebrovascular problems. Researchers in Iowa studied 92 patients with vascular depression giving one group TMS and the other a sham treatment. In a second experiment the dose of TMS was increased without telling the patients. This was important as it is quite hard to produce a realistic 'sham' treatment for TMS. The researchers hoped that a higher dose of TMS would produce more positive results which were definitely down to the treatment rather than just positive thinking. In both experiments TMS proved far superior to a sham treatment and the higher dose turned out to be more effective than a lower one.

Jorge, Ricardo E. ... [et al] - Treatment of vascular depression using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation Archives of General Psychiatry March 2008, 65(3), 268-276

Transcranial magnetic stimulation

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive technique that excites neurons in the brain by magnetic pulses introduced through the scalp. It has generally mild side effects and is well tolerated by patients. Research studies on smaller groups of patients have been inconclusive as to its benefits but the first large-scale, multi-centre, double-blind, sham-controlled study of TMS carried out by researchers at Rush University Medical Centre in the U.S. has found that TMS was twice as effective as a 'sham' procedure. The study's author said "these results indicate that TMS provides a novel and attractive treatment option for patients with major depression who have not responded to conventional antidepressant medications".

You can find out more about this study at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2007/11/26/magnetic-stimulation-for-depression/1573.html