A Phase 2 interventional study of Transcranial magnetic stimulation in Major Depressive Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Schizophrenia, sponsored by Brigham and Women's Hospital. Recruiting at 2 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-16.
Sponsored by Brigham and Women's Hospital · Phase 2, Interventional, and Basic science
Participants will receive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) at a random location in the left prefrontal cortex, excluding sites that are potentially unsafe. Extensive behavioral testing will be conducted to determine which behaviors are modulated by stimulating which circuits.
Patients who meet inclusion criteria for a primary diagnosis of MDD, OCD, GAD, or Schizophrenia (n=90) and consent to treatment will be assigned two random stimulation sites in the left prefrontal cortex and receive 2 days of accelerated iTBS treatment at the first stimulation site. Patients will have a 2 month break before coming back for 2 days of accelerated iTBS treatment at the second stimulation site. Patients with schizophrenia will be offered to participate in a third arm of the trial using a schizophrenia-specific target. This arm will also include fMRI scans and behavioral testing pre- and post- aiTBS. There will be two days (6 hours total) of behavioral testing and MRI scanning before each stimulation session and two days (6 hours total) after each stimulation session. Participants will be given the option of completing the behavioral testing in one day, before and after stimulation sessions. All the patients will receive active stimulation, which will facilitate enrollment and eliminate ethical concerns about placebo treatment in vulnerable patient populations. All participants will be blinded to their target coordinates and scales will be administered by a blinded study staff.
3,041 studies on the registry are indexed under Depressive Disorder, Major; 588 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 180 is above the median of 79 across 2,530 interventional studies indexed under Depressive Disorder, Major.
Browse Depressive Disorder, Major studies →Brigham and Women's Hospital is the lead sponsor of 1,267 studies on the registry; 228 are open to participants now.
Of its 116 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 65 (56%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Primary diagnosis of one of the following: major depressive disorder (MDD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), or schizophrenia (determined by focal assessment using the Structured Clinical Interview for )
Exclusion Criteria:
History of:
Current evidence of:
For participants with schizophrenia:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
The American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental health diagnoses. DSM-5 (2013, revised as DSM-5-TR in 2022) replaced DSM-IV, and some studies still name the older edition. “Meets DSM criteria for …” means diagnosed by that edition’s diagnostic criteria, usually by a clinician in an interview.
Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.
A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.
It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
DSM diagnostic criteria
The American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental health diagnoses. DSM-5 (2013, revised as DSM-5-TR in 2022) replaced DSM-IV, and some studies still name the older edition. “Meets DSM criteria for …” means diagnosed by that edition’s diagnostic criteria, usually by a clinician in an interview.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Clinically significant
Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Investigational drug or device
A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.
It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraindication
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participants will receive 2 days of accelerated TMS (10 treatments per day) to a random location in the prefrontal cortex.
Device: Transcranial magnetic stimulation
After a 2-month washout following arm 1, participants will receive another two days of accelerated iTBS treatment at a different random PFC location.
Device: Transcranial magnetic stimulation
Patients with schizophrenia will be offered to participate in a third arm of the trial, during which participants will receive 2 days of accelerated iTBS to a schizophrenia-specific target.
Device: Transcranial magnetic stimulation
Accelerated TMS will be provided for 2 days using the same dosing regimen as the FDA-cleared SAINT protocol, ten 9-minute treatments per day.
Clustering of multiple behavioral measures
The primary outcome is that stimulation of different circuits will selectively modify different behavioral clusters. Participants will complete the following phenotyping battery tasks and questionnaires: Q-SCID PANSS SAPS SANS PYRATS CDSS YBOCS CGI ATQ ASI BAI BDI BIS/BAS Claremont Purpose Scale De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale Daily Spiritual Experience Scale Emotional Reactivity Scale Flourishing Measures Headache Impact Test HiTOP-Self Report Moral Judgment Scale Pain Screener Personal Relationship with God Scale PSQI Positive and Negative Affect Scale Ruminative Response Scale Self Compassion-Short Form Spiritual Transcendence Scale- Short Form Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale Values and Beliefs of the American Public Altruistic Decision Task Balloon Analogue Risk Task DSIAT EEfRT MSIT ECR Time perception task TMB toolkit 5min AV recording
Time frame: through study completion, average of 3 months
Not enrolling at this site.
Plan to share: Undecided — De-identified survey response data and/or neuroimaging data may be shared with collaborators for further analysis.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Started Jan 2025 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Jun 2029, 52 months after the start.
Of 99 non-industry phase 2 interventional studies under Depressive Disorder, Major, half reached primary completion within 35 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 23 and three quarters within 57. This study's planned 52 months is above that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 195 studies reached it within 22 months; a quarter within 14 and three quarters within 37.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
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