Functional cerebral asymmetry in affective disorders: new facts contributed by transcranial magnetic stimulation.
A growing body of experimental data usually finds a slightly lower activation in the left hemisphere than in the right in depressive syndromes, whereas the opposite occurs in mania. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) seems to have a distinctive lateralized effect with manic or depressed patients. These clinical findings provide new elements for discussion of the significance of unbalanced hemispherical activation as a biological substrate in affective disorders. Based on these data and on the theories of chaos and complexity, a hypothesis for the physiopathology of affective disorders and the functional mechanism of TMS is proposed. This hypothesis is in agreement with valence theory.
Garcia-Toro
M
M
Department of Psychiatry, Complejo Hospitalario GESMA, C/Jesús 40, 07003 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. magato@intersalud.es
Montes
J M
JM
Talavera
J A
JA
D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D006801:Humans; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000503:physiopathology