Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a safe, noninvasive, and painless treatment that addresses persistent mental health conditions. If you have a problem like treatment-resistant depression, Ocean Psychiatry in Fremont, California, has state-of-the-art TMS facilities on site. The practice’s experienced mental health professionals use TMS to reactivate parts of your brain that don’t work so well when you have a condition like depression. To find out more and see how TMS could benefit you, call Ocean Psychiatry today or book an appointment online.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a safe, painless treatment for mental health disorders. TMS is noninvasive and drug-free, you don’t need an anesthetic or sedation, and you’re awake and alert during the treatment.
TMS uses magnets, like an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machine. The TMS device sends out short pulses of magnetic energy directly into the parts of your brain responsible for mood regulation.
The magnetic pulses pass painlessly into your skull to the targeted areas of your brain. The magnetic energy stimulates underactive brain cells, reactivating connections between the cells to improve your mood.
You might benefit from TMS if you have major depressive disorder (MDD) and other treatments are unsuccessful.
MDD or depression causes intense feelings of hopelessness, sadness, self-loathing, and other negative emotions. It affects your physical well-being as well as your mental health, and patients with severe depression are unable to work or get pleasure from anything in their lives. Many people with depression become suicidal in their despair.
The two treatments most patients with depression receive are medication and talk therapy. Medication helps rebalance brain chemicals called neurotransmitters that regulate your mood. Interpersonal psychotherapy helps you process past traumas, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) teaches you how to combat negative thoughts that hold you back in daily life.
While these treatments can be successful for many people, some find they aren’t making any progress. Others can’t tolerate their medications. If you’re having these issues, TMS may improve your mood without any adverse effects.
When you visit Ocean Psychiatry for TMS, your provider guides you to a comfortable treatment chair. They perform several tests to ensure the TMS coils are in the right place on your head and measure your motor threshold (the minimum amount of energy required to make your thumb twitch), which helps your provider regulate the magnetic pulses.
When TMS treatment begins, you can usually hear clicking sounds and feel a light tapping on your head as the magnetic pulses pass through your skull. You shouldn’t feel any pain, and the only side effect you might experience is a slight headache.
Each TMS session takes 15-20 minutes. You need five TMS treatments a week for 4-6 weeks to achieve the best results. Most patients report significant improvements in their depression following TMS treatment, and around half experience a complete recovery*.
To find out more about benefiting from TMS, call Ocean Psychiatry today or book an appointment online.
*Individual results may vary