Zapping the brain to tame bipolar mood swings?
NCT ID NCT03622749
First seen Jun 26, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This small pilot study tested whether a non-invasive brain stimulation technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) could help people with bipolar disorder regulate their emotions. Nineteen participants, including healthy controls, completed behavioral tasks measuring emotion regulation after receiving TMS. The study aimed to understand how the brain processes emotions in bipolar disorder, not to provide a new treatment.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only — not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this could point toward a non-invasive brain stimulation technique to help people with bipolar disorder better manage their emotions.
- What could go wrong
- This is a very small pilot study with only 19 participants, so results may not apply to everyone. It is early research, and the main goal was to understand emotion regulation, not to prove a treatment works.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
-
Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging
Charlestown, Massachusetts, 02129, United States
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