Psychiatria pre prax 3/2002

Transcranial magnetic stimulation and its possibilities in psychiatry

Summary: At the beginning of the new millenium it is very hard to open newspapers or watch TV and not find information about how magnets can influence our health. But these data are rarely cited as from double-blinded, controlled studies, and it is very difficult to sort out all this information. The current interest in magnetism resembles the similar trend at the beginning of the 20th century when the advantages of direct electric and weak magnetic stimulation were offered as therapy, sometimes in quite an intrusive way. The present time is now marked by huge excitement in the effect of the magnetic field and a novel method using a strong magnetic field to influence brain activity, transcranial magnetic stimulation, has been proposed and developed.

Keywords: transcranial magnetic stimulation, depression, side effects.