Gambling disorder (GD) is a mental disorder where people struggle to control their gambling. A potential way to treat GD is to stimulate particular regions in the brain. Brain stimulation has been used to encourage or discourage brain activity in the treatment of addictive disorders, such as substance uses. The pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) is thought to be involved in GD. The authors of this study proposed using a non-invasive brain stimulation technique called theta burst stimulation (TBS) to target the pre-SMA. They recruited six adults with GD. The participants completed baseline measures that included assessment of GD symptoms, overall functioning, and other mental health measures. The measures were repeated ten days into treatment (T2) and thirty days after treatment (T3). The authors found that symptoms of GD declined significantly from baseline to T2 and plateaued from T2 to T3. Overall functioning also improved. Other measures of mental health did not change during the course of treatment.
