Transcranial magnetic stimulation: a non-invasive way of treating depression
These mental issues are surfacing rather quickly and people have started to take it seriously. No more it is a taboo to talk about the, instead one can find avenues where they can get real help. One of the most commonly heard mental health issues is depression. Lately, it is mot talked about and also there are several ways that one can treat their depression. Other than medical ways there are also many non-medical ways to cope with depression. Before jumping to that, let's discuss what is depression and how it affects one's life.
What is depression?
Feeling sad, morose and depressed due to life problems is quite common. But it is only okay if it lasts for a few days. but if this sad feeling becomes a common thing and lasts for a longer time, then it is crucial to pay attention to the situation. A very strong feeling of worthlessness, sadness, helplessness, hopelessness can be a sign of clinical depression. This needs to be taken into consideration immediately and medical help should be consulted. However, one should be worried as it is a treatable mental issue.
Symptoms
Some of the symptoms that can be seen in a depressed person are:
- One may feel tired and not pumped up for most of the activities of one's daily life.
- Mornings become most depressing as one feel their mood becoming sadder.
- A person either starts sleeping a lot or does not sleep at all, thus affecting one's daily routines the most.
- One may feel guilty of littlest of things and start feeling worthless at the same time, thus lowering one's self-esteem and confidence.
- There can be a lack of concentration and thus giving one a hard time focusing on work or studies or even daily chores.
- Death or suicide becomes a constant thing on the mind.
- The energy levels drop or can also make one restless throughout the day.
- There also can be some physical changes like gaining or losing weight.
- There can also be some medical symptoms like back pain, joint pain, low working of the digestive system, etc.
There are many medical support and treatments that you can find for curing and treating even the most stubborn depression. One such treatment is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).
About TMS
This treatment type of non-medicinal and non-invasive treatment that stimulates the brain. In simple words, TMS is a process in which powerful equipment uses magnetic fields to stimulate certain parts of the brain, which in turn helps in treating depression. Usually, medication and even ECT can have many side effects in a patient, but this treatment type has not shown many side effects as of date. Also, most of the patients tend to tolerate the procedure quite well. only a slight side effect that is felt during or after the process is a headache. However, TMS is not suitable for people with epilepsy, any neurological issue, or prior head injury as then it can be dangerous or can cause seizures.
How does it work?
This therapy is regular basis treatment, which means one will have to go through TMS procedure for 5 days in a week and also for several weeks in a line. In the procedure, there is no usage of anesthesia on the patient. The technician and the expert will use a stimulation intensity that suites a patient on the motor cortex of the brain.
The motor cortex tells the doctor of those areas in the brain where the magnetic coil is to be located and how intense the stimulation should be. Stimulation data is then used to find that part of the brain which is the main activity center of the depression, known as a dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of the brain. Stimulating this part of the brain will bring a maximum affectability of the TMS treatment and thus will help in treating depression.
Effective or not?
Recent studies have shown that many patients are not happy or do not see any positive results with the medicinal treatments of depression. Therefore they tend to turn towards the TMS treatments. and almost 33 percent of these patients have seen complete remission form depression and its symptoms after taking the TMS treatments for several weeks. Also, in many cases, there are situations of lapse after a few months. However, this treatment does help in elongating the time for a person to feel better after the treatment is concluded.
Summary
Depression is an issue that should not be taken lightly, and thus immediate attention should be paid to it. there are many treatments that one can find in the medical world these days, but only a few of them are counted as depression treatment without medication or invasion. But in these years, TMS is concluded to be an effective treatment that will help in treating clinical depression without any medication. It works directly on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with the help of magnetic coils on the outside, which is the area controlling depression and its symptoms. Also, it is one such treatment that makes one feel better after a few transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy sessions only.