Mental illness is common in the United States according to a Mental Health America (MHA) report. Of the 1.5 million people screened between January and September of last year, there was a 93% increase for anxiety and a 62% increase for people with major depressive disorder.
And many people are still dealing with mental illness undiagnosed. If you’re looking for help and find that psychotherapy and medications aren’t effective, transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS therapy, may help. In this blog, we explain TMS therapy and how it feels.
Residents of Chevy Chase, Maryland, and Washington, DC, looking for help with conditions like anxiety and depression can find treatment options with our experienced team at Vital TMS Therapy. We’re a unique practice that specializes in this technology, and we design treatments around your individual needs.
Understanding TMS therapy
Also referred to as repetitive TMS, this non-invasive treatment uses an electromagnetic coil placed on your head that operates by emitting electromagnetic pulses to stimulate nerve cells in your brain.
These pulses increase activity in areas of the brain, such as the prefrontal cortex and striatum. That results in relieving symptoms of mental illness and improving your mood.
Conditions TMS therapy can treat
While the treatment is commonly used to manage depression, we can use TMS therapy to treat many mental illnesses such as:
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
The treatment can also be performed in different ways, helping to improve chronic pain by targeting other areas of the brain.
The TMS procedure
This outpatient procedure starts with you being seated in a comfortable chair and fitted with earplugs to dampen the sound of the magnetic clicking from the electromagnetic coil.
Then, the coil is placed on your head and repeatedly switched on and off to start the magnetic pulses. As a result, you can expect to hear a clicking or tapping sound.
Next is the mapping process, where you’ll feel a tapping sensation on your head. Don’t worry, the sensation isn’t painful at all!
Then we determine the amount of magnetic energy required to treat you, which is called the motor threshold. The amount of energy used will vary depending on the condition being treated. Again, the magnetic energy used in the process produces no pain.
Each treatment takes about 20-30 minutes. You’ll generally start with five sessions a week over a seven-week period, and since the treatments are outpatient, you can go back to your day when they’re complete.
If you’re ready for relief from depression, anxiety, or other issues, make an appointment with the team at Vital TMS Therapy today.
