Posted by Psychquackery on August 25, 2003, at 14:17:47
In reply to were not talking about ECT, posted by linkadge on August 25, 2003, at 10:03:22
> I don't really want to get into a debate again about which is better. I am just just stating my experiences with rTMS.
I do, because I dont like seeing mistruths, lies and misinformation about major depression being spread all over the Internet. A person with severe depression may read these discussions of rTMS and hoping to avoid those "dangerous shock treatments" may decide to enroll in an rTMS trial somewhere, spend all kinds of money living in a hotel and traveling and get total shit for results. That was my personal experience with rTMS.
>
> You can say it's inneffective, or not as good as ECT and thats ok. I'm just stating my experiences (trying to without bias) take them or leave them.It is ineffective. Or at the least its NOWHERE as effective as ECT. Not for the severe forms of depression. Maybe your definition of severe depression is a lot different from mine, I dont know. But I do know that all the data says that rTMS has marginal clinical value for severe, much less psychotic depression. Mainly, rTMS exists for the small group of researchers who are investigating this modality. Its basically their baby...their plaything for which they can write up all kinds of studies in scientific journals.
As for clinical value...where the rubber meets the road, only ECT has any value for combatting the real deal. And all the studies back that up to.
Igor
PS: Creating your own "rTMS machine" is both dangerous and stupid. You are risking your life...you dont know what you are doing. It could also arguably be a sign of mania IMO.
poster:Psychquackery
thread:253579
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030823/msgs/253917.html