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A treatment for clinical depression that typically lasts six weeks could be compressed into just five days with comparable results. Psychiatrists at the UCLA Health Sciences report this advancement in the Journal of Affective Disorders. This development is an accelerated form of transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS.

The study included 175 patients. Of those, 40 patients underwent the accelerated “5-by-5” protocol, receiving five sessions a day for five days. The control group of 135 received the standard treatment: one session per day, five days a week, over six weeks. Both groups showed significant reductions in depressive symptoms with no statistically significant difference in overall outcomes. Some patients in the accelerated group demonstrated a delayed effect with depression scores dropping an average of 36% but requiring two to four weeks post treatment.

These findings point to a potentially faster, more practical option for those who don’t respond well to antidepressants. A five-day treatment could reduce barriers like time, travel, and work disruption. There is a caveat: this was not a randomized trial, and longer-term outcomes may still favor the traditional schedule. More research is needed before this rapid option is routinely offered to patients.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032726001965?via=ihub

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/02/260224023103.htm

#depression #tms #magnetism