The Effectiveness of the Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)with high frequency (20 Hz) on Auditory Hallucinations, Inner Speech and Working Memory in Schizophrenic Patients

Abstract

Background: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of high frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatment (20 Hz) on auditory hallucinations, inner speech and working memory in schizophrenic patients. Materials and Methods: This study was a pretest-posttest experimental design with control group. The statistical population of this study consisted of all schizophrenic patients referring to the outpatient department of Imam Hossein hospital in 2019, 12 of whom were selected by available sampling based on inclusion and exclusion criteria then were assigned randomly into two groups of 6 each. High frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation (r TMS) treatment (20 Hz) was used for experimental group but the control group received no intervention during the study. The instruments were the positive and negative syndrome scale in schizophrenia, the inner speech questionnaire, and the Daneman and Carpenter working memory questionnaire before and after the intervention. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, and one-way covariance analysis (ANCOVA) and multivariate covariance analysis (MANCOVA) were used to analyze the data. Results: The results showed that there were significant differences between experimental and control group (p<0.005). The rate of auditory hallucinations and inner speech significantly decreased in comparison with pretest and control group, but the rate of active memory increased. Conclusion: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (r TMS) treatment (20 Hz) significantly reduced auditory hallucinations, inner speech and improved active memory.