Trial reportBiological psychiatry2021
Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Combined With Brief Exposure for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Prospective Multisite Randomized Trial.
Trial report in Biological psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
53 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 88 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of transcranial magnetic stimulation for generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder.BMC psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for post-traumatic stress disorder in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Combined Working Memory Training and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Demonstrates Low Feasibility and Potentially Worse Outcomes on Delay to Smoking and Cognitive Tasks: A Randomized 2 × 2 Factorial Design Pilot and Feasibility Study.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2022Trial
- A Critical Time Window of Neocortex Modulation for Remote Fear Memory in Rats and Humans.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Prospective Development of a Whole-Brain Connectivity and Electric Field-Guided Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Atlas for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Article
- Predictive value of subgenual cingulate normative connectivity to TMS treatment site for antidepressant response in routine clinical practice: a prospective, multisite cohort study.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Observational
- Body-based therapies and transcranial magnetic stimulation for posttraumatic stress disorder: a proposed integrative approach.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- From microstates to macroscales: A Critical Review of Maximum Entropy Modeling and Energy Landscape Analysis in functional MRI.Research square · 2025Article
- Innovating transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder: Zapping away the bad memory.Fundamental research · 2025Review
- Interventional Psychiatry and Emerging Treatments for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): A Systematic Review.Psychiatry and clinical psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Advancing TMS for PTSD - From networks to individuals.Transcranial magnetic stimulation (2024) · 2025Article
- Expedition for new symptom-specific TMS targets: Protocol for the first randomized causal circuit mapping trial.Contemporary clinical trials · 2025Article
- Trialing addiction neurocircuitry targets and directionality of brain stimulation effects: A deep TMS/fMRI trial in people with alcohol use disorder.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2025Article
- Transdiagnostic neuromodulation of impulsivity: current status and future trajectories.Translational psychiatry · 2025Review
- Embracing Internal States: A Review of Optimization of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Treating Depression.Neuroscience bulletin · 2025Review
- Pharmaco-Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: Letting Mechanism Guide the Way.The American journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025Review
- Neuromodulation of Fear and Anxiety Circuits.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025Review
- Structurally informed models of directed brain connectivity.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2025Review
- A potential target for noninvasive neuromodulation of PTSD symptoms derived from focal brain lesions in veterans.Nature neuroscience · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
25 authors at 17 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPosttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is both prevalent and debilitating. While deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (dTMS) has shown preliminary efficacy, exposure therapy remains the most efficacious, though limited, treatment in PTSD. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is implicated in extinction learning, suggesting that concurrent mPFC stimulation may enhance exposure therapy. In this randomized controlled multicenter trial, the efficacy and safety of mPFC dTMS combined with a brief exposure procedure were studied in patients with PTSD.
methodsImmediately following exposure to their trauma narrative, 125 outpatients were randomly assigned to receive dTMS or sham. Twelve sessions were administered over 4 weeks, with a primary end point of change in 5-week Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 score. This clinical study did not include biological markers.
resultsClinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 score improved significantly in both groups at 5 weeks, though the improvement was smaller in the dTMS group (16.32) compared with the sham group (20.52; p = .027). At 9 weeks, improvement continued in Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 score in both groups but remained smaller in dTMS (19.0) versus sham (24.4; p = .024).
conclusionsBoth groups showed significant PTSD symptom improvement, possibly from the brief script-driven imagery exposure. While our design was unable to rule out placebo effects, the magnitude and durability of improvement suggest that repeated ultrabrief exposure therapy alone may be an effective treatment for PTSD, warranting additional study. The surprising and unexpected effect in the dTMS group also suggests that repeated mPFC stimulation with the H7 coil may interfere with trauma memory-mediated extinction. Our results provide new insight for dTMS approaches for possible future avenues to treat PTSD.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.