Journal of psychiatric research
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation influences mood in healthy male volunteers.
The influence of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on mood in healthy people is uncertain, as former studies show divergent results. Previous studies in healthy volunteers focused exclusively on the immediate effect of a single session of rTMS. In contrast the aim of this randomised sham-controlled study was to analyse the influence on mood of a series of 9 High Frequency (HF) rTMS stimulations of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). 44 young healthy male volunteers were randomly assigned to receive 9 sessions of active HF-rTMS (n = 22) or sham rTMS (n = 22) over the left DLPFC. ⋯ According to the employed VAS we did not find significant differences caused by active or sham stimulation in five of six VAS. In the VAS labelled lively/gloomy the active group was found to be more "gloomy" (p = 0.0111) immediately after stimulation. Our data show that a 9-day long series of HF-rTMS of the left DLPFC improves mood, analysed by BDI in healthy young men, whereas no significant long-term changes were found in VAS.
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Although several variables have been studied as a possible predictor for the efficacy of ECT, results regarding hypercortisolism have been inconsistent. This prospective study evaluates the relation between pre-treatment cortisol levels and the efficacy of ECT in a population of drug-free inpatients with severe major depression. ⋯ This study suggests that higher levels of post-dexamethasone salivary cortisol at 9 AM are predictive of ECT efficacy.