Brain stimulation in psychiatry: methods and magnets, patients and parameters

Abstract

Purpose of review: Electromagnetic brain stimulation is performed in various ways in psychiatric settings for the treatment of a variety of psychiatric disorders.

Recent findings: Transcranial direct current stimulation is a comparatively simple procedure. The available results warrant optimism regarding the future of this therapeutic approach in psychiatry. Multicentre studies of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation demonstrate a moderate treatment effect in depression. Theta burst stimulation and deep brain repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation represent innovative promising developments. The invasiveness of deep brain stimulation still causes this method to be one of the last resorts, even though promising results in severely disordered patients have been published.

Summary: In our view, the field of brain stimulation will be rapidly moving forward in the near future and will establish itself as one more of the 'tools of the trade' in psychiatric therapeutic practice.