Wondering about the benefits of Traditional therapy vs TMS? Talk therapy and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) are two highly effective depression treatment options – but the way these mental health treatments work couldn’t be more different. Comparing the two can help you determine which is right for your treatment needs, and help you make the best decision for your own mental health.
If you’d like to learn more about traditional therapy and TMS, reach out to Active Path today and book an appointment.
Talk Therapy
Talk therapy has long been the gold standard for helping people overcome depression symptoms. There are several different therapeutic modalities that have been specifically developed for treating depression, but the most common and well-studied depression therapy is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
CBT is based on a simple principle: that a person’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviors all influence one another. This is commonly referred to as the cognitive triangle and provides therapists and their clients with three distinct intervention points in helping people overcome all manner of mental health conditions.
For example, a person experiencing major depressive disorder may have repeated negative thoughts about themselves. These thoughts will influence their emotions, making them feel sad or hopeless. These emotions will, in turn, affect their behaviors – making them avoid others, skip work, or lose the motivation for important activities.
In talk therapy, a therapist helps you to determine where your personal challenges lie and provide actionable strategies for how to change them. This could include helping people develop new ways of thinking, different methods of coping with difficult emotional states or changing behavioral patterns that can contribute to depression.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
TMS treatment takes an entirely different approach, instead focusing on the neurological basis of depression. People with major depressive disorder experience dramatically reduced activity in certain brain regions, leading to a number of the depression symptoms you may experience.
With TMS therapy, these regions can be stimulated using targeted magnetic pulses. This can stimulate nerve cells, increase your brain’s electrical activity, and often eliminate many of the depressive symptoms you have.
To accomplish this, clients wear a specialized cap equipped with powerful electromagnets. This cap sends magnetic impulses deep into specific brain regions, kickstarting underactive brain cells into higher levels of activity.
Traditional Therapy vs TMS: Similarities and Differences
While the methods for producing effective treatment outcomes are vastly different, there are nonetheless a number of similarities between the two treatments. Some of the similarities between each unique way to treat depression include:
- Lasting symptom relief
- Improved brain activity following successful treatment
- Helping restore loss of daily functioning skills
- Both are medication-free treatment options
- Both can treat severe depression
Regardless of which treatment type you choose, both can provide a similar set of positive outcomes. But there are several differences as well, which may influence which treatment you’d prefer to start treating your depressive disorder.
Some of these differences include:
- Talk therapy can take longer for people to experience improvements
- TMS treatment has been shown to be effective for treatment-resistant depression
- Talk therapy may be better suited for people with other mental health conditions
- TMS treatment requires less cognitive and emotional effort compared to talk therapy
- TMS treatment sessions last about 20 minutes, while talk therapy sessions last 50 minutes
- TMS may cause uncomfortable side effects, while talk therapy has no physical side effects
If you’re considering starting treatment, speaking with a mental health provider can help you determine which option may be best for you.
Combining Treatments
Of course, you don’t necessarily have to choose one treatment over the other. Combining treatment methods can be one of the most effective paths to long-term symptom relief, helping you both repair healthy brain function through TMS and learn coping skills and behavioral strategies to support your mental health through talk therapy. Other treatments such as medication management or Spravato can typically be combined with these interventions as well, providing several different pathways to lasting mental health recovery.
Start Depression Treatment with Active Path
When you’re ready to take the next step toward breaking free from a depressive disorder, call the team at Active Path by dialing 206.210.1198 for a no-obligation consultation on your depression treatment options. Depression can be incredibly debilitating, but it doesn’t have to be permanent – and the team at Active Path can help you restore your mental health once and for all.
Start your path to recovery with innovative and effective treatment at Active Path today.
