Any good studies on the effectiveness of TMS as compared to ECT

[JonathanClouse]

Well I transitioned over to TMS as I have had many difficulties in finding reliable rides to and from follow up outpatient ECT. I understand the theory behind how these treatments work, but I have been told in the past that TMS was a weaker effectiveness than ECT. I have been searching for more information comparing thes two treatments, most of the information I have found online has been posted by physicians who perform TMS (so I don't really trust their impartiality) for now I am staying the course, but curiousity is killing the cat. If anyone is aware of any impartial studies I would love to read them.

[Anonymous865]

I can't point you to any good papers, but here are some suggestions for how to research the topic:

1. Use scholar.google.com to search for papers instead of google.com. Scholar.google.com is more likely to present you with scholarly papers. (As you have figured out, you have to be careful of the source of your articles though.)

2. When you find a paper on the topic, look at the References section at the end of the paper. That will give you a list of other related papers. You can go to each of those papers and look at their references.

3. Go to the public library and ask for a reference librarian. Reference librarians are trained in how to find information. They love this kind of question. It is like going on a treasure hunt for them. Use them. Even if you find an article in a journal that the library doesn't subscribe to, ask the librarian about it. They may be able to get an interlibrary loan from another library.

4. In my city the local academic medical center has a medical library that is open to the public. They view this as part of their mission. Anyone can go there and get assistance from the medical reference librarian to locate information on diseases and treatments. Call your local hospitals and see if they offer this service.

5. Ask the physician who prescribed this treatment to you for articles on TMS vs. ECT. S/he should be able to point you to the articles that guided their decision to recommend the treatment to you.