The Effectiveness of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Theta Burst Stimulation on Selective Attention, Working Memory and Response Time in Suicide

Cognitive dysfunction is common in individuals with depression and these cognitive deficits may be associated with a risk of suicide. Therefore, the identification of the cognitive functions of depressed patients and the introduction of effective interventions on these factors are highly important. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) and Theta Burst Stimulation (TBS) to improve selective attention, working memory, and response time of depressed individuals with and without a history of suicide.

This applied quasi-experimental study was conducted based on a pretest-posttest design. The population included 40 depressed patients referring to the clinics of Mashhad, Iran, in 2020. The samples were divided into four groups, namely individuals with a history of suicide subjected to treatment with rTMS, without a history of suicide receiving treatment with rTMS, with a history of suicide undergoing treatment with TBS, and without a history of suicide administered with TBS (n = 10 each). The data were collected using the Stroop Color and Word Test, Corsi block test, and reaction time tests and statistically analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance.

The results confirmed the effectiveness of the intervention on the congruent reaction time, incongruent reaction time, working memory, simple reaction time, and selective reaction time in all four study groups (P < 0.05). The results of multivariate analysis of covariance showed that the group had a significant effect on the variables of congruent reaction time, simple reaction time, and selective reaction time (P < 0.05); however, it had no significant effect on the variables of incongruent reaction time and working memory (P > 0.05).

Compared to the rTMS method, the TBS had a greater effect on the variables of congruent reaction time, simple reaction time, and selective reaction time.