Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

What is transcranial magnetic stimulation?

Our team uses Magstim TMS therapy for depression, which most patients tolerate very well. Our providers follow up with you regularly during treatment to ensure you’re benefiting from it. We often include other treatments in your plan like counseling, oral antidepressants, and lifestyle medicine.

Who can benefit from transcranial magnetic stimulation?

Transcranial magnetic stimulation is an alternative treatment specifically for depression. While our team often treats depression using a combination of medications and counseling or other alternative options like esketamine nasal spray, individuals with depression respond to treatments and combinations of treatments differently.

If you don’t benefit from a more traditional depression treatment plan, or if you experience difficult side effects, our team considers adding TMS to your individualized care plan. TMS can treat depression symptoms like:

• Sleepiness or fatigue
• Insomnia
• Hopelessness
• Agitation
• Increase or decrease in appetite
  
• Major weight fluctuations
  
• Trouble concentrating
  
• Recurrent thoughts of death or suicidal ideations

If you have depressive symptoms but don’t yet have a diagnosis, our team offers detailed psychiatric evaluations in the office and with remote telepsychiatry visits. TMS therapy may be beneficial for other disorders with similar symptoms.

How long do the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation last?

A typical treatment plan with TMS involves five treatments per week for 4-6 weeks. At Prime Psychiatry, our team uses Magstim, which offers a longer duration of effects than other TMS therapy treatments; two out of three patients experience improvements for a year or longer. 

Some people, but not everyone, will need maintenance treatments with TMS at Prime Psychiatry. You’ll follow up with our team throughout your treatment program with TMS and in the months after you finish the initial period. You can collaborate with your providers to decide if maintenance treatments are necessary.

If you’d like to learn more about transcranial magnetic stimulation and see if you’re a candidate, contact Prime Psychiatry by phone or book an appointment online today.