Paula L Corradini and Michael A Persinger
Background: Brief (30 min to 60 min) applications of weak, physiologically-patterned magnetic fields have been
demonstrated to produce analgesia in rodents and reduction of depression in patients who have sustained Traumatic
Brain Injuries (TBI). To discern if the effects from one effective field pattern could be measured by quantitative
electroencephalography (QEEG) and reflected in psychometric inferences of depressed mood, normal volunteers
were measured.
Methods: A total of 22 normal volunteers were exposed for 30 min to sham field conditions or to a burst-firing
magnetic field (1 μT) that was applied across the temporal lobes during QEEG measurements. The Profile of Mood
Scores short-form (POMS-sf) was administered before and after the exposures and correlations between these
scores and bands of QEEG power were completed.
Results: The subjects exposed to the burst-firing magnetic field displayed a significant decrease in depression
scores compared to those exposed to the sham fields. The treatment effects accommodated about one-quarter of the
variance in scores. Like previous studies the other components of the POMS-sf did not differ significantly between
treatments. Field exposed subjects displayed significant increases in beta power over the prefrontal regions and left
temporoparietal areas the magnitude of which was strongly correlated with the depression mood scores.
Conclusion: Brief exposures to weak, physiologically-patterned magnetic fields that can be generated by
contemporary computer systems produced reliable changes in QEEG activity and were even reflected in relatively
insensitive psychometric indicators in normal individuals. The development of this technology for self-treatment of
patients who have sustained TBIs may be a useful adjunctive therapeutic intervention.