Question:
The National Insitute of Mental Health in Baltimore are researching TMS (transcranial magnitic stimulation). They are going to send me details. Ive never heard of TMS before. Has anyone else??? Estelle
Response:
The current experimental use of repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) at NIMH has grown out of research by Robert Post, MD (Chief of Biological Psychiatry at NIMH) and others on sensitization and quenching as two (opposing) neurological processes affecting how ready neorons are to "fire". The principal investigator is Dr. Una McCann. Post and his colleagues have written about this in journals and books that should be available in a good University library. If you search the PILOTS online database (see link from Page 3 at my Trauma Pages website; see URL below), you’ll find some references on this. The most recent article I know of was a brief report of a pilot study in the March 1998 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry. There was also a very brief mention of this study, showing the rTMS machine, during a TV program called "Exploring your Brain: Fear and Anxiety" shown on PBS in April 1998. For whatever its worth, I think very highly of Robert Post and his work. The basic idea is that rTMS, stimulating at about 1 Hz (pretty slow), may "quench" sensitized neurons in the right frontal cortex. This is hoped to reduce PTSD symptoms such as hyperarousal, and thus may make therapeutic processing of traumatic material more possible and more effective. Since this is an experimental inpatient treatment at NIMH, there is no clear data (yet) on its efficacy; it appears promising (based on animal research) particularly for those suffering from symptoms related to sensitization. There is a link to a brief description of this study in the "Research Participation" section of Page 4 of my website (see URL below). The study uses a "crossover" design, meaning that each participant would receive both a "sham" and a "real" treatment, in random order; each treatment takes about one month. As I understand it, the rTMS stimulation is not uncomfortable, but requires that you talk about some trauma events so that those parts of your brain are active during the stimulation. The rTMS gadget itself is very expensive and not widely available. Finally, I am not associated with this study in any way, other than being very curious about its results. My unofficial summary of this study above is probably pretty close, but not perfect. Contact the project researchers at NIMH for more details, if you are interested in participating in this study. david ======================================================================= - Email: d…@teleport.com David Baldwin, PhD (541) 686 2598 - - Trauma Information Pages website: http://www.trauma-pages.com/ - - Regular mail: PO Box 11143 Eugene, Oregon USA 97440-3343 - =======================================================================
Response:
Hi David, Thank you for the info. Your web site is alway a constant source of current information, and I know appreciated by many of us. Eileen
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