The study is designed to assess effects of low frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation delivered to language association areas of the brain in psychotic patients reporting hallucinated """"""""voices"""""""". Our early results have been promising. A total of five patients have been studied. One patient was unable to tolerate the research procedure. The other four patients reported some diminuation in hallucinations. In two patients, reductions were very transient, lasting 2-3 hours. One patient reported a dramatic reduction in hallucinations which persisted 3-4 weeks following termination from the study. Another patient, reported an 40% reduction in this symptom that lasted 3 days. One difficulty which we have encountered is the administration of """"""""inactive"""""""" stimulation that will be used as a placebo control. Our previous method provided sensory clues, based on level of scalp stimulation, that the """"""""inactive"""""""" stimulation was not directed at brain tissue per se. In order to fully ensure """"""""blindness"""""""" of research subjects, we needed to develop an alternative stimulation site directed at the visual association cortex. We are now exploring the efficacy of """"""""active"""""""" stimulation directed at language association cortex vs """"""""control"""""""" stimulation of visual cortex.
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