Story perspectives

Accelerated TMS Boosts Depression Response to 80%

6/25/2026

Summary

Taylor Leads TMS

Dr. Joseph J. Taylor, MD, PhD, Jonathan F. Borus Endowed Chair in Psychiatry, led a trial of accelerated TMS for treatment-resistant depression.
The trial randomized 40 adults to accelerated TMS for one week, using fMRI connectivity or scalp targets.
One month later, the connectivity group responded at 80% versus 60% for the scalp group on the Montgomery-Åsberg Scale.
The blinded study will expand to a multi-site trial to confirm efficacy.

Summary

Connectivity Targeting Boosts

The trial enrolled 40 adults aged 22-80 at the Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics in Boston.
Participants met moderate-to-severe depression on the MADRS and treatment-resistance on the Maudsley Staging Method.
A 41-minute resting-state scan assigned half the participants to a left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex target.
Connectivity-based targeting produced an effect size of 0.8 (95 % CI 0.26-1.54) and required scanning five individuals for one extra responder.

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Taylor Leads TMS

Dr. Joseph J. Taylor, MD, PhD, Jonathan F. Borus Endowed Chair in Psychiatry, led a trial of accelerated TMS for treatment-resistant depression.
The trial randomized 40 adults to accelerated TMS for one week, using fMRI connectivity or scalp targets.
One month later, the connectivity group responded at 80% versus 60% for the scalp group on the Montgomery-Åsberg Scale.
The blinded study will expand to a multi-site trial to confirm efficacy.

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