Mental Health and Technology

Judy Solved Her Clinical Depression with a Tech Device Much Better than Medication.

I highlight the benefits of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) for depressive disorders using a case study.

If someone asks me to nominate one technology in the brain and mental health domain for an award, I will say TMS without hesitation. The Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation treatment method brought hope to people living with depression and not responding to antidepressants.

Purpose of the Article

This story introduces Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) for depression treatment. I documented a case of a friend who suffered from clinical depression and found the solution in TMS. I met many more people who used it successfully.

This story does not include health advice. It is for information, inspiration, and awareness purposes. TMS creates hope for depression and several mental health disorders that I will cover in other posts. This post only focuses on its use case for clinical, also known as major depression.

Depression is widespread globally. “Approximately 280 million people in the world have depression,” according to WHO. Since 2005, depression has significantly risen globally. Even developed countries have high depression rates. For example, as a developed country, the US is among the top three most affected countries by major depressive disorders.

I introduced major depression in a previous article titled Here’s Why Depression Has More to Do with Addictions and Less with Economic Conditions. I also documented another case study titled Here’s How Georgia Defeated Clinical Depression in 10 Steps. This post is only about the use of TMS.

What is TMS, and how does it Work?

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a tool and physical treatment method that activates various brain regions safely and efficiently.

In a nutshell, TMS is a noninvasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain to improve symptoms of depression.

TMS works as proven by empirical evidence. However, interestingly how it works is still unclear to scientists. The most plausible hypothesis seems to be breaking neurocircuits responsible for the depression in the brain.

TMS has been researched and used for almost two decades. It is not a new-age idea and is not controversial at all. It has solid scientific backing with clinical trials. Professional testimonials and patient anecdotes are overwhelming.

Prominent health institutes like Mayo Clinic have been investigating and using it for several years. In addition, the National Library of Medicine (PubMed) includes over 21,500 medical reports on TMS.

In 2020, a large group of scientists reviewed evidence between 2014 and 2018 and updated evidence-based guidelines on the therapeutic use of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) published in Clinical Neurophysiology. This comprehensive medical report is publicly available.

TMS might sound like shock therapies called electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) from a mechanistic aspect. Nevertheless, TMS is much more gentle.

Moreover, unlike ECT, TMS does not require anesthesia like invasive therapies of the past. Patients might undertake it without being hospitalized. Finally, unlike ECT, TMS does not cause memory loss.

Patients report no side effects besides discomfort or occasional headache during the sessions. This was okay with Judy as she had too many side effects from the drugs causing more misery and adversely affecting the body’s homeostasis.

TMS is typically used when other depression treatments haven’t been effective. This treatment involves delivering repetitive magnetic pulses for several months; therefore, it’s called repetitive TMS, shorted as rTMS in the literature.

Harvard Medical School informs that:

“Approximately 50% to 60% of people with depression who have tried and failed to receive benefit from medications experience a clinically meaningful response with TMS. About one-third of these individuals experience a full remission, meaning that their symptoms go away completely.”

Apart from a bit of discomfort and minor headaches for some people, TMS might create seizures for some people. Therefore, people with a history of epilepsy are not considered for this therapy.

A Brief Background to Judy’s Mental Health Conditions and Recovery Journey

After completing her tertiary studies in finance and getting an MBA in the field, Judy started climbing the corporate ladder with passion while starting a family. However, after having two young kids, they divorced, and she got the responsibility for the children.

Her passion for the industry enabled her to become a chief financial officer in a private company. She loved her job and enjoyed interactions with clients in this satisfying job for several years.

Her technical, business and communication skills were excellent. She was healthy, but her stress level was above average due to work and family commitments. As a result, she did not pay much attention to her health and focused mainly on her job and kids.

Unfortunately, Judy lost her job in the 2008 economic crisis. She felt awful and vulnerable as it was impossible to find a similar job in those years. As a single mum, she had difficulty paying her mortgage and feeding her two young kids.

Judy’s mental health conditions started with anxiety, panic attacks, and finally, a nervous breakdown leading to major depression.

Fortunately, her sister took responsibility for the kids as Judy became unavailable to support her children. Kids loved their empathic auntie when their mums needed recovery. Judy obtained financial help from the government as a single-parent pension and got some medical support through social workers.

Her family doctor referred her to psychologist and social workers. They helped a bit with talk therapy, but they had to refer her to an experienced psychiatrist who diagnosed her clinical depression and started treating her. For two years, Judy was on multiple antidepressants.

Her body initially responded to some of them, but she always felt down and sad. She lost the meaning of life, feeling anhedonia. Her energy levels were down. She couldn’t focus on getting a job even though she desired it deep down. Her depression was so severe that she couldn’t even spend time with her children.

However, one day her new and young psychiatrist told Judy she had a plan for her. The young doctor offered Judy to consider a new treatment that became available in Melbourne, Australia, where she and I live.

She informed her to stop medication during this treatment. Judy intuitively felt great as she disliked antidepressants, but her intellect questioned if a 65-year-old male professional couldn’t solve her problem, how could this 28-year female would solve it.

Judy told me to regret this undesirable thought later as it was a mistake to judge people based on their age and sex.

As Judy tried multiple antidepressants and her depression was not resolved, she qualified for the treatment.

The cost looked prohibitive, but Judy’s social worker managed to obtain government funds as she was eligible as an unemployed single parent.

Initially, she thought that it would be like an electrical shock that she heard from her friends. Therefore, she was hesitant to try it.

However, the caring and compassionate psychiatrist explained the treatment in detail and relieved Judy’s concerns. Judy agreed to do it.

Here’s how Judy found the treatment and the results she obtained.

After the treatment, I asked Judy about her experience, which she shared generously. Therefore, I summarize the critical points for awareness.

The treatment took around six months. She started feeling gradual improvement which was monitored by her psychiatrist.

Initially, she found it a bit disturbing during the treatment, but it was tolerable to her. I asked her to describe her experience during the treatment.

The practitioner placed an electromagnetic coil against her forehead. The electromagnet painlessly delivered a magnetic pulse that stimulated nerve cells in her brain.

She felt the activation with improved mood signs. She characterized it as a magpie gently hitting her skull and giving a psychological feeling between pain and pleasure in her perceptions. But it was not painful.

As she suffered from the side effects of various antidepressants, this minor disturbance was not crucial to her. However, the progress was noticeable and mattered to her the most.

When she completed the sessions, she felt a fantastic improvement in her mood. Everything started looking normal and even brighter.

She was extremely grateful to her young psychiatrist, who gave her this opportunity. In addition, she felt blessed with support from the government, social workers, and her empathic sister, who looked after the kids in her vulnerable times.

When I met Judy after another year, she had no depression symptoms. So she did not need to attend the sessions or use any medication. However, her psychiatrist told her that it might come back, so she reminded Judy to see her again if it happened. But so far, Judy is happier than ever. She reinvented herself.

Interestingly, Judy learned her lessons from this debilitating condition. Therefore, she paid utmost attention to her health and well-being. She changed her diet to a better one, started exercising, especially resistance training, improved her sleep, lost visceral fat, learned to slow down, started meditation, joined a laughter yoga club, and had lots of fun with her loved ones.

Judy did not desire to be a chief financial officer anymore. Instead, she opened her own financial planning company and made her living with earnings from this great job which gave her a work-life balance.

Judy’s children were happy and supported their mum in her new lifestyle. Judy shared her story with many other friends who suffered from depression and believed that anyone experiencing depression and anxiety could use TMS. However, some of her friends have financial issues.

Financial concerns with insurance eligibility

Judy’s friends informed that their insurance companies required multiple drug therapies to be tested and not worked for the patients before being eligible for insurance payment. So they couldn’t start TMS immediately.

Unfortunately, TMS is still very expensive for low-income families. In some countries, it is around ten thousand dollars for 30 sessions. She thought that rather than medication, the psychiatrist first started with TMS. But it is, unfortunately, just the opposite at this stage which does not make sense.

Some patients are concerned that millions of people suffer from depression. Rather than drugs, why don’t governments and health organizations invest in these new technologies to give hope to depressed people?

Conclusions and Takeaways

If people ask me to nominate a brain and mental health technology for an award, I will say TMS without hesitation. The Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation treatment method brought hope to people living with clinical depression who gained no value from antidepressants.

The research is active, and scientists are testing TMS for other mental health conditions, such as autism and bipolar. Many private institutes invest in this innovative treatment method. However, it is still expensive and not fully approved for other conditions yet.

The treatment works, and its side effects are minimal compared to ECT or antidepressant medication. TMS is considered a natural therapy as it is not intrusive like drugs.

TMS is currently used when other depression treatments haven’t been effective. FDA approves it when one drug does not work for the patient.

However, some insurance companies only support it after many drugs do not help it. This does not make sense to the public. I hope insurance companies understand that human life is more important than money.

As I cited above, credible sources like Harvard Medical School inform us about one-third of individuals using TMS experience complete remission, meaning that their symptoms go away completely.

If your loved ones or friends experience depression and medication does not work for them, please pass along this information to encourage them to get support from psychiatrists who might make an assessment of their situation and consider this innovative therapy if they are eligible.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

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