ABSTRACT. Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) commonly takes a relapsing form. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has be suggested as a means of maintaining remission. Brief courses of TMS at about monthly intervals appear to provide health benefits. Objective: To examine whether such brief courses of TMS are better conceptualized as maintaining remission, or as the provision of early relapse treatment. Method: 25 series of treatment (18 different patients) were considered. Pre- and post-treatment 6-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD6) and 7 visual analogue scales (VASs) were collected, along with pre-treatment Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S) and post-treatment CGI-Improvement (I). Results: Pre-treatment HAMD6 and CGI-S indicated that many patients were symptomatic and in early relapse. Post-treatment HAMD6 indicated that many patients had achieved remission, and this was supported by the CGI-I. The VAS scores also improved. Conclusions: Short courses of TMS at about monthly intervals have beneficial results and are better conceptualized as early relapse treatment (ERT).

Keywords: major depressive disorder; transcranial magnetic stimulation; early relapse treatment

How to cite: Pridmore, Saxby, Sheila Erger, Marzena Rybak, Erin Kelly, and Fiona Lawson (2017), “Early Relapse Treatment (ERT) or ‘Maintenance’ Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)?,” American Journal of Medical Research 4(1): 111–117.

Received 10 January 2017 • Received in revised form 2 February 2017
Accepted 3 February 2017 • Available online 20 February 2017

doi:10.22381/AJMR4120178