The outlook is promising for patients with major depressive disorder and treatment-resistant depression. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a new non-invasive psychiatry therapy for depression that has helped half of the patients with depression and may alleviate symptoms even when medications have not worked.
The FDA has approved a non-invasive magnet called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to stimulate brain neurons. TMS has a higher success rate than medicine, with around 50 percent of patients improving after treatment. It is gentle and well-tolerated compared to medications and does not have associated side effects, including fatigue, weight gain, and reduced libido. TMS is adequate, and the side effects are minimal.
The most intriguing thing about TMS is that it effectively treats patients with extremely severe and resistant depression—even those who experience little or no results with ECT, multiple medicines, and psychotherapy. So, in addition to helping half of the patients, it also comes with a favorable risk-benefit ratio.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is relatively highly prevalent as a mental illness with a high rate of morbidity and mortality. Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) occurs when psychotherapy, drugs, or a combination of the two are not enough to manage the symptoms of MDD. As a result, patients have poor functional outcomes, including higher rates of joblessness, suicidal thoughts, drug misuse, and marital problems.
Patients with TRD responded well to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) treatment. Reports have shown that patients with major depression had between 50 and 55 percent response rates to TMS and remission rates between 30 and 35 percent. Depression-like symptoms have been linked to dysregulation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in individuals with severe depression. TMS is an effective treatment for behavioral dysregulation in individuals with severe depression because it tackles the underlying pathophysiology of the disorder by inducing high-frequency electromagnetic fields over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
The TMS treatment process includes 36 sessions spread out over nine weeks. The initial appointment typically lasts between 30 minutes and an hour while the magnet adjusts to the patient's brain. After that, patients undergo therapy five days a week for six weeks before gradually decreasing the frequency of their appointments to three per week, then two per week, and ultimately to once per week in the last week.
By producing an electrical field, the magnet "stimulates cells in the exact area of the brain that tends to be impacted by depression. The non-invasive psychiatry treatment restores equilibrium to the neural circuits that depression disturbs. The treatments have no adverse effects on memory; many patients report feeling better and more invigorated after receiving them. Though many patients maintain good health for years after their first course of therapy is through, others may need follow-up care. Since depression is a chronic condition that requires long-term management, retreatment may be helpful for some individuals.
There are a few adverse effects of the TMS therapy itself. In some cases, individuals get moderate headaches or nausea shortly after that, while others experience twitching of the face and migraines during the procedure. However, in between treatments, patients seldom experience any adverse effects. Talk to the psychiatrist today about the non-invasive psychiatry treatment.
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