Accelerated TMS for Schizophrenia!

This article explores new hope for treating schizophrenia, with a particular focus on its often-overlooked negative symptoms—such as apathy, lack of motivation, and social withdrawal.

A recent 2025 study by Han et al. found that accelerated, personalized TMS significantly reduced these negative symptoms by targeting brain circuits connected to the ventral tegmental area. This breakthrough could be a game-changer in areas where traditional medications have fallen short.

Authored by LWC Medical Director, Owen Scott Muir, M.D., this insight highlights a promising new direction in schizophrenia treatment.

Schizophrenia is a terrible illness for many. Historically, we have understood two domains of symptoms— “positive” and “negative” symptoms. Positive symptoms are things that shouldn’t be there— but are. Symptoms that are a little…extra. This includes hallucinations (sensory experiences that arise inside one’s mind) and delusions (fixed, false beliefs).

These are the “banner” symptoms of schizophrenia that most people think about when they think of the world as “crazy.” Ironically, these positive symptoms are not remotely restricted to schizophrenia as an illness. Auditory hallucinations are very common, not just in people who suffer from an impairing illness but in people who have no disease but, at some point in their lives, end up hearing voices.

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