Background
Prefrontal Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) therapy repeated daily over 4–6 weeks (20–30 sessions) is US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for treating Major Depressive Disorder in adults who have not responded to prior antidepressant medications. In 2011, leading TMS clinical providers and researchers created the Clinical TMS Society (cTMSs) (www.clinicaltmssociety.org, Greenwich, CT, USA), incorporated in 2013.
Methods
This consensus review was written by cTMSs leaders, informed by membership polls, and approved by the governing board. It summarizes current evidence for the safety and efficacy of the use of TMS therapy for treating depression in routine clinical practice. Authors systematically reviewed the published TMS antidepressant therapy clinical trials. Studies were then assessed and graded on their strength of evidence using the Levels of Evidence framework published by the University of Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine. The authors then summarize essentials for using TMS therapy in routine clinical practice settings derived from discussions and polls of cTMSs members. Finally, each summary clinical recommendation is presented with the substantiating peer-reviewed, published evidence supporting that recommendation. When the current published clinical trial evidence was insufficient or incomplete, expert opinion was included when sufficient consensus was available from experienced clinician users among the membership of the cTMSs, who were polled at the Annual Meetings in 2014 and 2015.
Conclusions
Daily left prefrontal TMS has substantial evidence of efficacy and safety for treating the acute phase of depression in patients who are treatment resistant or intolerant. Following the clinical recommendations in this document should result in continued safe and effective use of this exciting new treatment modality.
Suicide remains a significant public health problem for the United States military. Trauma-related diagnoses such as acute stress disorder (ASD) or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may exacerbate suicide risk, particularly among service members psychiatrically hospitalized following suicide-related events. To date, treatments to address suicide risk and trauma symptomatology among service members within inpatient milieus have been nonexistent. To address this gap, a randomized controlled pilot trial of Post-Admission Cognitive Therapy (PACT) was conducted to evaluate a targeted cognitive-behavioral program among traumatized military personnel (N = 36) hospitalized following a recent suicide attempt. All participants met criteria for ASD or PTSD and were randomly assigned to receive either PACT and enhanced usual care (PACT + EUC) or EUC alone. PACT consisted of six 60- to 90-min individual psychotherapy sessions, adapted from Brown et al.'s (2005) cognitive therapy protocol for suicide prevention. Blinded follow-up assessments were conducted at 1-, 2-, and 3-months postpsychiatric discharge. The primary outcome was days until repeat suicide attempt. Secondary outcomes included depression, hopelessness, suicide ideation, and PTSD symptoms. Participants did not significantly differ in reattempt status. However, based on reliable change index analyses, a greater proportion of PACT + EUC versus EUC participants met criteria for clinically significant change on measures of depression (100% vs. 78%), hopelessness (83% vs. 57%), and PTSD symptom severity (100% vs. 38%), but not for suicide ideation (60% vs. 67%). PACT is an innovative inpatient protocol, currently under evaluation in a well-powered multisite RCT for its efficacy in reducing subsequent suicidal behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record
Our findings support that rTMS was an effective modality for this patient in treating his PLP. The significance of 10 Hz stimulation is unknown because of the lack of an effect size and is possibly associated with a floor effect.
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