TMS-Assisted Psychotherapy: Moving Toward a Paradigm Shift

1. TMS uses a strong magnetic field (~1.5 Tesla) to stimulate targeted brain regions by passing pulsed magnetic fields through the skull into the cortex. Unlike other noninvasive brain stimulation techniques, TMS actually causes neurons to fire (Hallett, 2007). Low-frequency TMS tends to inhibit, while high-frequency TMS tends to activate neural tissues.

2. A term I believe I coined.

3. Revising Mental Disorder Causation to Improve Treatments

4. Many brain networks have been identified, but the “Big 3” include the central executive or frontoparietal network (CEN or FPN), the default mode network (DMN), and the salience network. They all have many functions we are only beginning to fathom, and those functions dynamically shift to an extent from person to person, time to time, and context to context. Generally, the CEN deals with executive functions, many of which can be under cognitive, conscious control. The default mode network relates to the brain at rest (resting state networks or RSNs, more broadly) and is involved with autobiographical awareness, narrative and identity, and what happens when the mind wanders—do we miserate over the past, explore possibilities in the present, or range toward the future? The SN controls what we tend to pay attention to, whether positive, negative, or otherwise, and critically plays an important role in switching between the CEN and DMN, influencing our overall motivational states and task orientation.

5. TMS Outperforms Medication in Study of Treatment-Resistant Depression

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