Everyone’s mental health journey is different. Not only are there many mental health disorders that you can be diagnosed with, but the severity of your symptoms can change over time. While some people can feel the intensity of their symptoms fade, others develop specific symptoms long after they receive a diagnosis.
It’s not always easy to determine when you need a bit of extra help managing your mental health disorder. But when you take a look at the impact that your symptoms have on your everyday life, you might decide that it’s time to explore your options, like TMS treatment.
Read on to learn about TMS treatment, when you should consider trying it and how it can help.
What is TMS treatment?
TMS treatment refers to using transcranial magnetic stimulation, an alternative therapy treatment to help alleviate mental health disorder symptoms. It’s a noninvasive and non-medication treatment option. It involves using a coil to send magnetic pulses to targeted areas of your brain. The goal is to stimulate brain cell activity in the parts of your brain that help manage your moods and emotions.
TMS is administered in an outpatient facility over the course of six weeks. A specially trained technician will administer a total of 36 treatments under the supervision of a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist will determine the proper placement of the TMS device. They will also decide how strong the pulses should be for your specific symptoms.
TMS is recommended for people with:
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder.
- Major depressive disorder.
- Anxious depression.
When is it time to consider TMS treatment?
While TMS can help provide some relief of symptoms like depression and OCD, it should be considered if you have not responded positively to other common forms of mental health disorder treatment, such as antidepressants and psychotherapy. TMS treatment is often recommended for people who have had disorders considered to be treatment resistant.
If your provider determines that you have a treatment-resistant disorder, that signifies that your symptoms haven’t improved after at least two trials of medication. TMS is especially effective for treatment-resistant depression and OCD. It can also benefit individuals who have anxious depression.
When your disorder interferes with your quality of life, even after trying out other other options, then it’s time to talk to your provider about TMS.
Here are some signs that you should consider TMS:
- Your OCD or depression is causing you to isolate away from your loved ones and cut off your support system in times of need.
- Your fatigue and lack of motivation from depression is causing significant issues with your productivity at work or school.
- Your behaviors, thoughts and emotions are putting you at risk of endangering yourself or others.
How TMS treatment can help you
TMS works by transforming neural circuits in specific areas of the brain.By focusing on the areas of the brain that affect your mood, increased stimulation from magnetic pulses can help with mood regulation to alleviate the symptoms of your disorder.
When treating depression specifically, TMS treatment targets the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This brain area plays a role in a variety of essential functions, including working memory, abstract reasoning and planning. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex influences the other areas of your brain that help regulate your emotions. It has been shown to be underactive in people who are affected by depression.
Our data proves how much TMS can help you, with 79% of our patients experiencing at least a 25% decrease in their depression symptoms and 56% having a 50% decrease.
Active Path Mental Health can help you determine when it’s time for TMS treatment
When something isn’t working, it’s time to change it. So when your current treatments for your mental health disorder aren’t making an impact on your symptoms, then it’s time to consider TMS treatment. By targeting the parts of your brain that regulate your mood and emotions, TMS can improve the symptoms of mental health disorders that interfere with daily life.
Active Path Mental Health has multiple locations in Oregon and Washington that can help you learn how to take control of your severe and treatment-resistant depression or OCD with TMS therapy.
To learn more about how TMS works to treat depression and OCD symptoms, be sure that you contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.
