Posttreatment Beck Depression Inventory Research Articles

Therapeutic High-Frequency Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Concurrently Improves Mood and Anxiety in Patients Using Benzodiazepines

In this study, we tested the use of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to reduce depression and anxiety in patients using or not using benzodiazepines. We hypothesized that rTMS would concurrently reduce symptoms in both depression and anxiety and that these reductions would correlate with patients using benzodiazepines. This retrospective study screened for patients treated in a TMS clinic within a five-year period. Each patient had received high-frequency (10 or 20 Hz) rTMS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and completed pre- and posttreatment Beck Depression Inventory and Visual Analog Scale-Anxiety ratings. Fifty-eight patients (37 women) met these criteria and 37 (63.8%) took benzodiazepines. We used two mixed analysis of variance analyses to separately evaluate the effects of rTMS on depression and anxiety. We additionally directly evaluated the relationship between reductions in depression and anxiety by computing three linear correlations (all patients, benzodiazepine users, nonbenzodiazepine users). rTMS was an effective treatment of depression for all patients (p < 0.001). rTMS also reduced anxiety scores from pre- to posttreatment (p = 0.002). Furthermore, reductions in depression and anxiety were correlated (p = 0.002). These changes in depression and anxiety only correlated with benzodiazepine users (p < 0.001) and not nonbenzodiazepine users (p = 0.608). rTMS concurrently improved both depression and anxiety, and changes in these measures correlated with patients using benzodiazepines. With further investigation, rTMS may be a helpful treatment for both anxiety and depression simultaneously.

Treatment of Atopic Dermatitis With Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine

Background: Atopic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory skin condition that sometimes requires multiple modalities for control of symptoms, including emollients and steroids. Few studies have examined the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine for atopic dermatitis. Objective: To describe the use of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine in a case of atopic dermatitis. Design, Setting, and Patient: Single case report of a 17-year-old patient diagnosed with atopic dermatitis since age 3. Intervention: Acupuncture treatment included acupoints along the Spleen and Heart meridians. Chinese herbal medicine included an herbal prescription of Xiao Feng San. Main Outcome Measure: Symptoms of atopic dermatitis. Results: The patient reported an improvement in depression, hyperpigmentation, facial edema, and slight pruritus improvement after the third treatment. Pretreatment Beck Depression Inventory score of 25 indicated moderate depression. Posttreatment Beck Depression Inventory after 3 months of treatments indicated no symptoms of depression. Symptoms reduction in depression were maintained at 3-month follow-up. Conclusions: More research is needed and case studies performed to support our findings. Symptom reduction in pruritus and hyperpigmentation and improvements in depression need to be confirmed and validated in future studies.