Influence of rTMS on Symptoms and Cognitive Function in Patients With Psychiatric Disorders

The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale is often shorted as PANSS. It is a well-characterized and well-applied measurement instrument that measures positive and negative syndromes, their differential and general severity of illness. The items on the PANSS are defined with increasing levels from 1 to 7, the greater the value appears, the severe the level is: 1 = absent, 2 = minimal, 3 = mild, 4 = moderate, 5 = moderate-severe, 6 = severe, and 7 = extreme. The PANSS score is finalized by summation of ratings across different items, the potential range for positive and negative scales are from 7 to 49 whereas the General Psychopathology Scale is ranged between 16 to 112.

The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) is a test for identifying and characterizing abnormal cognitive decline in the elders and examining neuropsychological disorders for younger adults. The RBANS is comprised of five domains, which are Immediate Memory, Visuospatial /Constructional, Language, Attention and Delayed Memory. Each of the five index is based on two subtests except Delayed memory index consisting of four subtests. The score from each index is scaled by the age group with the scaled score mean to be 100 and standard deviation equals to 15, then the total RBANS scored is summed up of these indexes with the same normal mean and standard deviation. The lower the RBANS score the patient receives, the grave cognitive declination appears.

The classification of major depressive disorder has been updated in the Fifth Edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM-V). It is defined by the lifetime absence of mania and hypomania, as well as one or more major depressive episodes. DSM description includes the diagnostic classification, the diagnostic criteria sets and the descriptive text. The diagnostic classification represents the official list of mental disorder with diagnostic codes that used by all U.S. health care professionals. The diagnostic criteria, specifically, the criteria for major depressive disorder consists: five or more out of nine related symptoms, symptoms cause significant distress or impairment, episode has not attribute to any substance or medical condition, the absent of psychotic disorder, the absent of any manic or hypomanic episode. Last but not the least, the descriptive text provides information like diagnostic features, diagnostic measures and functional consequences.

The Udvalg for Kliniske Under-sogelser (UKU) side effect rating scale is a clinician-rated assessment uses to capture the side effects of psychotropic drug doses.

It consists three parts: The first part, the single symptom rating scale. The scoring level may varied on the individual items but the general scale remains the same principle: 0= not or doubtfully present, 1 = present to a mild degree, 2 = present to a moderate degree, 3 = present to a severe degree. The greater level indicate, the severe the symptom becomes. The second part is a global assessment, where as 0 refers to no effect and 3 represents side effects that interfere moderately with the patient's performance. The last component is a statement of the results that the patient's side effects have for following up the medication. The decision are listed as from 0, "no action", to 3, "discontinuation of drug or changes to another preparation". The larger the number appears, the greater demand of intervention.