A 54-patient pilot study reported reductions in affective instability and impulsivity in patients with borderline personality disorder following four weeks of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex TMS. The study was open-label and used standardized self-report and clinician-rated measures of borderline personality disorder symptomatology.
Improvements were modest in absolute terms but consistent across multiple measures, with effects sustained at 12-week follow-up in roughly half of responders. Patients in the study continued to receive standard psychotherapy throughout treatment.
The authors emphasize that the study is preliminary and uncontrolled, and that placebo effects in personality disorder symptom self-report are well documented. A randomized sham-controlled trial is being planned with funding from a private foundation.
TMS for personality disorders remains entirely off-label and is delivered only at a small number of academic centers. Insurance coverage does not exist outside research settings. The findings nonetheless add to growing interest in TMS for disorders involving impulse control and emotional regulation.
Source
Reporting based on coverage from Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation. This article is editorial summary intended for general information; it is not medical advice.