Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology

Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in the treatment of auditory hallucinations: a case report

Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology 2013; 23: Supplement S129-S129
Read: 486 Published: 20 March 2021

Growing data suggests that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation(rTMS) to the temporoparietal cortex might be a safe and effective treatment method for auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia. We report the case of a patient with low adherence to treatment suffering auditory hallucinations who had received rTMS. A 47-year-old male patient was admitted to our outpatient clinics with complaints of auditory hallucinations and delusions of persecution with the diagnosis of schizophrenia for approximately 25 years. He had been hospitalized four times and underwent various treatment regimens but he himself stopped taking his medication a month before his admittance. He had been taking aripiprazole 10mg/day and suffering for auditory hallucinations for almost a year. The patient assented to TMS therapy and was admitted after signing his informed consent. Psychotropic medication with aripiprazole was not changed during the treatment. The patient underwent 20 sessions of consecutive TMS stimulation with one session per day, In each of the sessions, 1000 stimulations were administered in an order of 50 trains of 20 seconds each at 1 Hz. During the last week of treatment he reported a marked decrease in the frequency and intensity of the hallucinations. The patient reported no adverse effects of the treatment and within 3 months after his treatment no recurrence was seen. Using rTMS directed at the left temporoparietal cortex to treat auditory hallucinations might be an alternative therapeutic role. Further studies with large samples are needed to examine this therapeutic effect.

EISSN 2475-0581