Trial reportBrain stimulation
Testing a neurobiological model of depersonalization disorder using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation.
Trial report in Brain stimulation. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dysfunctional large-scale brain networks in drug-naïve depersonalization-derealization disorder patients.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Dissociative Symptoms and Interoceptive Integration.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025Review
- Lifting the veil: probing altered visual perception in derealization.Neuroscience of consciousness · 2025Article
- Examining the association between depersonalisation traits and the bodily self in waking and dreaming.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Article
- Survival, Attachment, and Healing: An Evolutionary Lens on Interventions for Trauma-Related Dissociation.Psychology research and behavior management · 2024Review
- Using Extended Reality to Study the Experience of Presence.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2023Article
- Depersonalization disorder as a systematic downregulation of interoceptive signals.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Potential Targets for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation on Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder.Brain sciences · 2022Article
- Targeting temporal parietal junction for assessing and treating disembodiment phenomena: a systematic review of TMS effect on depersonalization and derealization disorders (DPD) and body illusions.AIMS neuroscience · 2021Review
- Trapped in a Glass Bell Jar: Neural Correlates of Depersonalization and Derealization in Subjects at Clinical High-Risk of Psychosis and Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Article
- Reward-Driven Arousal Impacts Preparation to Perform a Task via Amygdala-Caudate Mechanisms.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2019Article
- Gray Matter Alterations Associated With Dissociation in Female Survivors of Childhood Trauma.Frontiers in psychology · 2019Article
- Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in the treatment of depersonalization disorder: A consecutive case series.Psychiatry research · 2016Article
- Chronic complex dissociative disorders and borderline personality disorder: disorders of emotion dysregulation?Borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation · 2014Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDepersonalization disorder (DPD) includes changes in subjective experiencing of self, encompassing emotional numbing. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has pointed to ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) inhibition of insula as a neurocognitive correlate of the disorder.
objectiveWe hypothesized that inhibition to right VLPFC using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) would lead to increased arousal and reduced symptoms.
methodsPatients with medication-resistant DSM-IV DPD (N = 17) and controls (N = 20) were randomized to receive one session of right-sided rTMS to VLPFC or temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). 1 Hz rTMS was guided using neuronavigation and delivered for 15 min. Co-primary outcomes were: (a) maximum skin conductance capacity, and (b) reduction in depersonalization symptoms (Cambridge Depersonalisation Scale (CDS) [state version]). Secondary outcomes included spontaneous fluctuations (SFs) and event-related skin conductance responses.
resultsIn patients with DPD, rTMS to VLPFC led to increased electrodermal capacity, namely maximum skin conductance deflections. Patients but not controls also showed increased SFs post rTMS. Patients who had either VLPFC or TPJ rTMS showed a similar significant reduction in symptoms. Event-related electrodermal activity did not change.
conclusionsA single session of right-sided rTMS to VLPFC (but not TPJ) significantly increased physiological arousal capacity supporting our model regarding the relevance of increased VLPFC activity to emotional numbing in DPD. rTMS to both sites led to reduced depersonalization scores but since this was independent of physiological arousal, this may be a non-specific effect. TMS is a potential therapeutic option for DPD; modulation of VLPFC, if replicated, is a plausible mechanism.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.