TMS in major depression: A retrospective naturalistic study including two subjective tools

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a prevalent mental health condition.
• Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is an emerging treatment for MDD.
• Evaluating assessment tools for treatment efficacy is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess TMS treatment outcomes in acute MDD patients.
• To evaluate the performance of objective and subjective mood assessment tools.
• To identify predictors of successful TMS therapy.

Main Methods:

• 90 acute MDD patients received up to 35 daily TMS sessions.
• Objective mood assessment used Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D6) and CGI-S.
• Subjective mood assessment included SDS6 and a novel Daily Emotion Score (DES).

Main Results:

• 56.7% of patients achieved remission based on HAM-D6 criteria.
• Objective and subjective measures showed good correlation, especially post-treatment.
• Early improvement in SDS6 and DES scores at session 10 significantly predicted remission.

Conclusions:

• The Subjective Depression Scale (SDS6) is a valuable tool alongside HAM-D6 for MDD assessment.
• The Daily Emotion Score (DES) shows potential for predicting TMS treatment outcomes.
• Early subjective mood changes may indicate future treatment success in MDD patients receiving TMS.