2.3. TMS protocol
CONTRACTION, CORTEX
The TMS treatment protocol was applied using a Neuro-MS/D device (Neurosoft Ltd, Russia) with a figure-of-8 coil. At the first stage, the resting motor threshold was determined based on the involuntary contraction of the fingers on the contralateral hand with gradually increasing stimuli applied 5cm lateral of the vertex of the mid interauricular line. Accordingly, the application severity was defined as 110% of the motor threshold determined. The application site was accepted as 5-cm anterior over the parasagittal plane of the motor cortex point where the motor threshold was determined. This area corresponded to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The coil was then placed on the scalp at an angle of 45° to the sagittal line. Each TMS session was applied as 25 consecutive trains at 10 Hz frequency, at 40 pulses in each train and the intertrain interval was 20 s. The total of 20 sessions (20,000 pulses) were applied as 1 session per day. The sham-TMS application was performed using the same coil as in the active application but placed at a distance from the scalp at a 45° angle (90° in the sagittal line). Thus, the patients experienced the same sound and sensory effects as in the actual procedure but no stimulation was applied to the cortical structures below the area where the coil was placed [