When Antidepressants Aren’t Enough
New TMS therapy at Rogers Behavioral Health can help combat major depression.
Illustration of the thought processes in the brain
Rogers Behavioral Health has a new FDA-approved outpatient treatment option when antidepressant medications are not enough: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).
TMS is noninvasive procedure for people 18 years or older suffering from Major Depressive Disorder (MDD).
“Medication management and talk therapy are the most common treatments for depression, but are not always successful,” says Dr. Tyler Rickers, DO, director of TMS Services at Rogers. “TMS is a non-medication treatment option for treatment-resistant depression.”
TMS has been shown to decrease depression symptoms and improve the quality of life among adult patients. Research shows approximately one in two patients experience a significant reduction in depressive symptoms after using TMS, and one in three patients will reach complete remission.
Dr. Rickers notes that TMS has a higher rate of effectiveness than some antidepressants.
Rogers began offering TMS to patients participating in its depression treatment programs in 2014. TMS is now provided as a stand-alone outpatient therapy program due to high patient response rates and growing community need.
“At Rogers, we have seen a response rate of approximately 65 percent, which is even better than the national average,” says Dr. Rickers. “We think that is due to the combination of our expert psychotherapy and TMS. This is a new modality that may change lives.”
How does TMS work?
The idea behind the treatment is triggering blood flow to a certain spot of the brain thought to contribute to depression. Magnetic pulses of the TMS technology are sent to the left frontal cortex of the brain, which increases blood flow to that stagnant area.
Patients are encouraged to sit back, read, listen to music or simply relax.
With a healthy lifestyle, psychotherapy, and activating or “waking up” this part of the brain, it is likely the patient will start to feel better or relieved of their depressive symptoms with hopes of overcoming MDD.
Rogers is now accepting patients for outpatient TMS therapy at its Oconomowoc location. Twenty-minute treatments are scheduled daily, Monday through Friday, for approximately six to eight weeks. Rogers also offers TMS at its location in the San Francisco East Bay area and is planning for the use of TMS at additional locations across the U.S.
Free screenings are available as a first step in the admissions process at 800-767-4411 or rogersbh.org/TMS.
