Magnetism against depression - An experimental technique shows itself to be efficient in the treatment of severe psychiatric disorders

Sep 8, 2026

A special-issue feature describes how repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) may treat severe depression when conventional approaches fail. The narrative follows patients who had not responded to antidepressant medication and, in one case, required electroconvulsion therapy under general anesthesia. rTMS uses intense magnetic pulses delivered through an eight-shaped coil to modulate activity in targeted brain areas, aiming for similar therapeutic effects with fewer undesirable outcomes. Cost, treatment schedule, and ongoing evaluation for public health coverage are also discussed.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Magnetism against depression

rTMS as an option after medication failure

Electroconvulsion therapy background and comparison

Treatment process, effects, and cost

Current coverage and research direction

> PSYCHIATRY Magnetism against depression An experimental technique shows itself to be efficient in the treatment of severe psychiatric disorders RICARDO ZORZET TO Published in January 2007 A na Paula can hardly remember the last time she saw her mother smile. Since she suffered her first crisis of depression some 20 years ago, Maria spends sad days, lying on the sofa re-running thoughts that spring from a world that is forever grey. She has already tried all the types of known anti-depressants, but not one was capable of putting an end to her apathy that still accompanies her today and made her abandon her work in the family’s business in the metropolitan region ofSão Paulo. Useful in the majority of cases, medicines, in the case of Maria, at best put off her next relapse. In a last chance attempt, some six months ago, the doctors had to resort to the application of electrical shocks to the patient´sbrain under a general anesthetic, electro-convulsion therapy, more commonly known as electroshock – a treatment considered to be one of the most efficient for the most serious cases, still stigmatized for having been applied in a cruel manner and even as a torture technique against prisoners. This treatment can help to reestablish the normal working of the nerve cells, even though it generally causes a passing loss of memory, which can last from a few days to months. Not even the electrical shocks worked, and in November Maria began therapy at the Psychiatry Institute of the University of Sao Paulo (IPq/USP) against depression that over the last few years has been awakening the interest of psychiatrists and neurologists throughout the world: repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS), a sequence of intense magnetic pulses capable of stimulating or inhibiting the activity of nerve tissue. Until only a short time ago restricted exclusively to scientific experiments, the rTMS appears to produce the same effects as the electroconvulsive therapy in the treatment of depression: readjusts the working of determined regions of the central nervous system, but with less undesirable effects. USP’s Psychiatry Institute released the use of rTMS for the treatment of depression in October of 2006, after the team led by the psychiatrist Marco AntonioMarcolin tested the method for almost six years against depression and as well as the treatment of chronic pain, IB ERÊ CAMARGO IMAGES FOUNDATION Cyclists, 1989, oil on canvas by Iberê Camargo: autonomy and movement PESQUISA FAPESP ■ SPECIAL ISSUE NOV 2006/SEP 2007 ■ 33 Studies of Cyclists series, 1990, Iberê Camargo some forms of hallucination common in schizophrenia and in the recovery of patients who had suffered a stroke. Currently the institute is analyzing how to ask for the inclusion of rTMS on the list of procedures paid for by the Public Health System for the treatment of depression, with the object of offering it freely to a greater number of patients. Approved for this purpose only in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Israel and some European countries, this therapy is still expensive: it costs R$ 300 for each of the 20 applications necessary for the treatment of acute depression, a problem that one in every ten people can experience during their lifetime. In general, one session per day is carried out for a month. Fifteen days after the start of treatment, Ana Paula had already noted the first signs of recovery of her mother. The dose of the anti-depressant, which Maria still took, dropped to a quarter of its initial value and . Marcolin’s team began to remove the sedative that she used for sleeping. The application is truly peaceful. On the morning of the 6th of December, in a small room on the Institute’s first floor, the psychiatrist Maria do Carmo Sartorelli brought a bobbin in the form of a figure of eight, about the size of an open hand, to the left side of the head of Maria who was seated in a reclining chair. Next she heard a series of rapid

FAQs

What treatment is described as magnetism against depression?

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS), delivered as sequences of magnetic pulses to stimulate or inhibit nerve tissue activity.

Why was electroconvulsion therapy used in the story, and what limitations were mentioned?

Electroconvulsion therapy was used when electrical shock and medications had not worked; it can cause temporary memory loss and has long been stigmatized.

How does rTMS work according to the article?

A high-intensity current passes through a coil, creating fluctuations in a magnetic field that induces a low-intensity electric current in a targeted cortical area, sufficient to trigger nerve pulse transmission.

Sep 8, 2026

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