Advances in transcranial magnetic stimulation for psychological symptom management in Parkinson’s disease.

Posted on September 1, 2025

Parkinson’s disease patients, in addition to typical motor symptoms, often experience various psychological symptoms, including depression, anxiety, cognitive impairment, impulse control disorders, and psychotic symptoms. These symptoms severely affect patients’ quality of life and may even cause a greater disease burden than motor symptoms. This review focuses on the application progress of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) as a non-invasive neuromodulation technique in the treatment of psychological symptoms in Parkinson’s disease. Studies have shown that repetitive TMS (rTMS) has significant improvement effects on Parkinson’s disease-related depressive symptoms, with mechanisms possibly related to the regulation of the prefrontal-striatal dopamine pathway and the promotion of neuroplasticity. For anxiety symptoms, continuous theta burst stimulation has shown potential in indirect regulation of the amygdala and hippocampal regions. For cognitive impairment, high-frequency rTMS applied to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex can improve executive function deficits, while bilateral coordinated stimulation protocols help enhance attention and memory functions. For impulse control disorders in Parkinson’s disease patients, inhibitory stimulation applied to the orbitofrontal cortex can alleviate pathological gambling and compulsive behaviors. In terms of sleep disorders, TMS has also shown potential efficacy in regulating circadian rhythms and improving rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder. However, current research still has limitations such as small sample sizes, non-standardized stimulation protocols, and insufficient evaluation of long-term efficacy. Future research directions should focus on optimizing stimulation parameters, exploring individualized treatment protocols, integrating multimodal imaging assessments, and conducting large-sample randomized controlled trials to clarify the clinical application value of TMS in the rehabilitation of psychological symptoms in Parkinson’s disease, providing new approaches for the comprehensive management of this common neurodegenerative disease.

Zhou XL, Li Y, Xia W, Zheng YY, Wu AP. Advances in transcranial magnetic stimulation for psychological symptom management in Parkinson’s disease. World J Psychiatry 2025; 15(9): 108497 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i9.108497]