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REVIEW ARTICLE

Research progress on repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in the treatment of alcohol addiction: A narrative review

Raxida Umar1,2 ,  Shanshan Dong2 ,  Enli Luo2* ,  Hao Lyu3*
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1 Department of Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
2 Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, South China Hospital, Medical School, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
3 Department of Neurosurgery, Shenzhen Second People’s Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
Global Translational Medicine, 025120028 https://doi.org/10.36922/GTM025120028
Received: 19 March 2025 | Revised: 6 July 2025 | Accepted: 16 October 2025 | Published online: 12 November 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Alcohol addiction is a complex psycho-physiological disorder affecting neurotransmitter release and nerve impulses in multiple central nervous system regions, causing severe physical and mental harm and societal burden. Existing treatments (medication, psychotherapy, traditional Chinese medicine) have limitations, including poor control of alcohol craving, high re-drinking rates, inadequate improvement of comorbid symptoms (anxiety, depression, cognitive decline), and issues such as non-specific drug targeting and subjective bias in psychotherapy. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), a non-invasive physical therapy with advantages of painlessness, safety, and minimal side effects, has shown efficacy in neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and cognitive decline. Although its application in alcohol addiction is in the early stage, clinical trials indicate that it can reduce alcohol craving and re-drinking rates. This review summarizes the pathogenesis of alcohol addiction and the clinical efficacy of rTMS, aiming to provide a reference for its promotion in substance addiction treatment.

Keywords
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation
Alcohol
Substance addiction
Dopaminergic reward system
Funding
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 82374567), the Nature Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2023A1515012779), and the Foundation of Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee (JCYJ20210324093213035).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Global Translational Medicine, Electronic ISSN: 2811-0021 Print ISSN: 3060-8600, Published by AccScience Publishing
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