Schizophrenia Treatment: iTBS over left DLPFC brings new hope to patients

Schizophrenia is by far one of the most chronic and debilitating mental illnesses, affecting 1 in every 100 persons globally. It has three categories of symptoms:

Positive symptoms: hallucinations and delusions
Negative symptoms: diminished emotional regulation, reduced motivation (avolition), social withdrawal, loss of pleasure in fun activities (anhedonia), etc.
Cognitive symptoms: impairment, attention deficit, poor learning skills.

Available treatments, including antipsychotic drugs, are pretty effective for managing the positive symptoms of schizophrenia. However, the negative and cognitive symptoms have proved treatment-resistant.

So, even without the hallucinations, things can still be quite challenging for schizophrenia patients. Obviously, we need a new schizophrenia treatment that will be effective for the other symptoms--and fast.

Thanks to a new study, there appears to be hope.

New treatment for schizophrenia found?

The new schizophrenia treatment studied is known as Theta burst stimulation (TBS). It is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique for altering human behavior and treating neurological diseases.

The scientists studied how TBS would work for schizophrenia patients. They found that when applied intermittently over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, TBS may effectively manage the negative and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia.

“The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is connected to parts of the brain, which are associated with the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, and its impairment may play a crucial role in the negative and cognitive symptoms,” explains Dr. Taro Kishi, lead scientist of the study. "Therefore, this is a promising target for treating negative and cognitive symptoms in people suffering from schizophrenia."

A striking discovery

In people with schizophrenia, iTBS (intermittent TBS) over the left DLPFC could improve the negative symptoms and cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia.

But that's not all.

The efficacy of iTBS isn't limited to schizophrenia; iTBS is also effective in treating those same symptoms in other mental illnesses.

For example, the negative symptoms of schizophrenia pretty much overlap with depression. Think lethargy, lack of motivation, loss of pleasure and desire. The results of this study indicate that iTBS could improve these depressive symptoms in people with mood disorders, not just schizophrenia.

In short, the therapeutic benefits of iTBS over the left DLPFC may be specific to symptoms and not patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. So, it can work across several illnesses.

And that's a good thing.

However, this study's sample size is quite small, and it wouldn't be fair to draw general conclusions from it. The scientists now hope to extend the study to a larger sample size while considering other factors, such as the characteristics of the people with schizophrenia.

Need help?

At Hope Mental Health, we provide safe, effective psychiatric care for schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders in Boise and Meridian, Idaho, SLC, and the Wasatch Front, Utah. We also serve OR, AZ, NV, WA, and FL.

Author

Satu H. Woodland, PMHCNS-BC, APRN Satu Woodland is owner and clinician of Hope Mental Health, an integrative mental health practice located at Bown Crossing in Boise, Idaho. She sees children, adolescents, and adults. Ms. Woodland with her background in nursing, prefers a holistic and integrative approach to mental health care that addresses the mind and body together. While Ms. Woodland provides medication management services in all her patients, she believes in long-lasting solutions that include a number of psychotherapies, namely cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure and response prevention therapy, attention to lifestyle, evidenced based alternative psychiatric care and spirituality. If you’d like to gain control over your mental health issues, call Hope Mental Health at 208-918-0958, or use the online scheduling tool to set up an initial consultation.