A girl in her late adolescence presented with thought broadcasting and blunted affect. She has been under treatment for Schizophrenia since 5 years. She was brought with a full-blown psychosis with agitated mood. Coincidentally, the family is all geared up for a marriage in the coming one week. The situation had put her father and the doctor in a dilemma whether to increase the dosage of the medication (which could possibly sedate her) or take her to ECT (electro-convulsive therapy). Either of them would not only raise curiosity in the relatives about the girl’s condition but also deprive the girl of the happiness of taking part in her sister’s marriage.
The plan:
The girl was given accelerated dTMS treatment using H1 coil, 3-4 sessions a day for continuous 5 days, totalling to 16 sessions. The first two days she was denying the treatment due to her agitated mood and expressed crying spells. The psychologist had taken a lead role to counsel and comfort her and completed all sessions.
The result:
There was a visible behavioural improvement in her after the 16 sessions. Social smile was the first change seen on 3rd day. She started to interact with the doctor and the psychologist more casually, started talking about her studies, career, etc. The father was so happy and expressed his gratitude. Marriage went on well. The girl came to the clinic one week after the marriage, in a stable condition. Doctor planned a second cycle of the treatment after a month!
Credit:
Thanks to dTMS – It came to the rescue of a patient as a good replace to ECT. Despite the fact that RTMS is still not FDA approved for treating Schizophrenia, research across the world found good outcomes. We at ANC are also witnessing the positive effect of dTMS in Schizophrenia and are studying its impact on a large scale.