UKRAINIAN BULLETIN OF PSYCHONEUROLOGY

The Scientific and Practical Journal of Medicine
ISSN 2079-0325
DOI 10.36927/2079-0325

SYMPTOM-SPECIFIC EFFECTIVENESS OF TRANSCRANIAL MAGNETIC STIMULATION AND ITS IMPACT ON RESILIENCE IN SERVICEMEN WITH STRESS-ASSOCIATED DISORDERS

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Abstract

Servicemen with stress-associated disorders are the category most resistant to standard inpatient therapy, which prompts the search for adjunctive treatments. Transcranial magnetic stimulation is regarded as a promising addition, but its effect is usually assessed by integral scale scores, while its differentiated impact on individual symptoms and on resilience remains insufficiently studied. The purpose was to assess the impact of adding stimulation to standard therapy on the dynamics of individual post-stress symptoms and on resilience. A total of 144 male servicemen were examined and allocated to two comparable groups of 72 — "With TMS” and "Without TMS”; assessment was performed twice — at admission (examination No. 1) and at discharge (examination No. 2) — using the Mississippi Scale (M-PTSD) and the Connor– Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-25). Integral scores did not change significantly in either group. At the level of individual symptoms, the "With TMS” group showed reduction of four symptoms (guilt, suicidal intent, the feeling of being unable to cope, concentration difficulties) versus one symptom in the "Without TMS” group, while sleep disturbance and reduced working capacity increased. At discharge, the proportion of patients with a medium resilience level was significantly higher in the "With TMS” group (58.33 % vs 40.28 %). Cluster-based analysis showed predominance of avoidance, intrusion and hyperarousal over guilt and suicidality. Adding stimulation was associated with broader symptom-specific reduction and a more favourable redistribution by resilience level, generating hypotheses for further randomized trials.

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References

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