rTMS to Treat Social Anxiety Disorder: A Case Report

We report a case of a 38 year old single male. The patient signed a consent form and was aware of the experimental protocol (approved by the Ethics Committee at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro) before participation commenced. The patient was diagnosed with specific SAD (writing in public), without comorbidities according to DSM-IV-TR.The patient was treatment-resistant to a serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). A single session of rTMS was administered at 1Hz (inhibitory frequency) at 120% MT for 25 min (1,500 pulses) over the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). The vmPFC represents the most promising target for rTMS because this structure is consistently activated in SAD.