If you’re living with treatment-resistant depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or you need support quitting smoking, consider TMS. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) uses specialized technology to affect particular changes in your brain.
This treatment option is medication-free. Instead, you wear a sophisticated headset during a multi-week course of treatment. The device sends safe magnetic pulses to stimulate neural activity in targeted regions of your brain.
You can see pictures of what this looks like on our TMS page. Some people say the TMS device looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. But don’t let that put you off. Our team gets extensive training to make sure you have a safe, comfortable experience the whole time you use it.
To help people feel more comfortable exploring TMS, we want to highlight the people behind the treatment.
The role of trained clinical staff
Here at Neurology, Psychiatry and Balance Therapy Center (NPBTC), we partner with the company that makes the TMS device we use. BrainsWay®, that company, is deeply involved in training our team to properly, safely provide transcranial magnetic stimulation.
In fact, they send their own staff out to our office to provide training. To make sure you have the best experience possible from the moment you walk in the door, our entire team gets targeted clinical training. That includes your direct care providers, of course, but it even extends to the team at our front desk. This way, everyone you interact with can answer your questions and support you.
Our team’s clinical training doesn’t just make your experience nicer. It also directly affects your outcomes. TMS therapy isn’t one-size-fits-all. Everyone’s brain functions differently. You need your provider to carefully tailor the treatment to work where your brain needs it.
With extensive training in TMS therapy, our team is better able to identify the right areas of your brain to treat (i.e., apply cortical targeting) and calibrate the intensity of the stimulation.
What you can expect during treatment visits
For TMS therapy to work, you need to be consistent about coming to appointments. For depression and OCD, people typically see the best results when they complete six weeks of sessions with treatment five days a week. With smoking cessation, people often need about three weeks of five appointments a week, then 3 weeks of one appointment a week.
Each session is only about 30 minutes, but seeing results from TMS still requires you to retool your schedule for a while. That’s why our team does everything we can to make sure that while you’re at our office, you have the best experience possible.
We’re always available to answer questions, talk through what you’ve been feeling lately, and hear suggestions about your treatment plan. We can also help you feel more physically comfortable during treatment. If you’re thirsty while you have the headset on, just tell us and we’ll grab you something to drink, for example.
We believe that providing a safe, comfortable, and ideally pleasant experience helps people stick with their treatment plan. If there’s anything we can do to make your visits better, please tell us.
At NPBTC, we blend extensive clinical training with an emphasis on creating the best experience possible for each patient. If that sounds like a good fit to you, reach out to our team. We can help you learn what to expect when starting TMS treatment.
