Clinical effects on semi-structured suicidal thinking with two intermittent Theta-Burst stimulation intervention protocols in depressive disorder

Objective:To analyze the clinical outcomes of two intermittent theta burst protocols applied to depressed patients with semi-structured suicidal thinking.Methods: 23 participants with Depression according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 th edition criteria, were accepted via informant consent and randomized in Group A: 1 session and Group B: 3 sessions, during 4 weeks, using clinical Scales for depression and suicidal behavior to assess each participant.Results: Wilcoxon rank test analysis showed statistically significant post-treatment reduction on suicidal thoughts for Group B (p < 0.01) with also a larger effect-size (> 0.80) which it was measured with Hedges' g.Hazard Ratio analysis showed a major probability for Group B to decrease suicide-related thinking.Conclusions: A decrease in suicidal thinking was more observed in the group that received three sessions daily for 4 weeks, indicating more sessions during the day could offer a quicker response to suicidal thinking, especially for prevention of this type of behavior in areas where no hospitalization is available.These results support the feasibility of creating new preventive methods to improve the efficacy in the early eradication of suicidal thoughts.