Depression can happen in various ways, such as bipolar depression, major depressive disorder, posttraumatic depression, and many others. Unfortunately, suffering from depression can be overwhelming to your mental health.
Think about this, there are several drugs, but few of them are effective for all patients. The good news is that there is TMS therapy that treats depression. Here are things you need to understand about treating depression with TMS therapy.
TMS therapy
There is a good chance that you may have heard about TMS therapy, but you don’t understand what it’s all about. Well, TMS therapy is sometimes called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation therapy. It refers to a therapy that utilises electromagnetic fields to stimulate parts of your brain that might be underactive, especially if you’re suffering from depression.
These electromagnetic fields have pulses that go through a special coil that is put on your scalp, meaning it’s a non-invasive and non-drug depression treatment. Remember that TMS coils come in various shapes and sizes designed to treat a variety of depression. For example, you can find butterfly-shaped and figure-eight TMS coils that are usually.
These small coils allow a small penetration of your brain, though larger coils can sometimes be used in most situations. For major depressive disorder that is linked with some structures that are deeper within your brain, larger coils may be preferred to have the desired effect.
No doubt TMS therapy has proven to be a reliable and most effective treatment method for depression. It’s not surprising, therefore, to see many patients struggling with depression choosing this kind of treatment. Best of all, TMS therapy has quite a few mild side effects compared to antidepressant medications.
How TMS therapy works
During the TMS Tampa therapy session, they will put an electromagnetic coil against your scalp that is near the forehead. This is a painless process and the electromagnetic produces a magnetic pulse to stimulate nerve cells in the areas of your brain associated with depression and mood control. This treatment is believed that it can activate parts of your brain that have less activity in depression.
Experts believe that stimulating these nerve cells may affect how your brain will work. As a result, depression symptoms ease and there is an improvement in your mood. However, because there are various ways to perform this treatment, techniques can change.
It’s worth remembering that depression is treatable, though some standard treatment methods may not be effective for some people. In such cases, repetitive TMS therapy can be done to treat people with depression when standard treatments like talk therapy and medications don’t work.
Repetitive TMS therapy can be done in your doctor’s office or clinic. It just requires a series of treatment sessions for you to get better. These sessions are usually daily and you need to do it five times a week for about four to six weeks.
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Image credit: Freepik
James Wallace has been an advocate for mental health awareness for years. He holds a master’s degree in counselling from the University of Edinburgh.
