A gentle, targeted
approach to the brain

The next step for depression

TMS is an effective option for people whose depression has not improved on medication alone, and it has been used to treat thousands of people worldwide.

In international depression guidelines, TMS sits as a clear second step, recommended once initial treatment and medication trials have been tried. For many patients it opens the door to reducing, and sometimes discontinuing, their antidepressants.

For treatment resistant depression, defined as depression that has not responded to two or more antidepressant trials, TMS has shown a 58 percent response rate. It uses magnetic fields to stimulate or inhibit parts of the brain, requires no anaesthetic, and unlike ECT it is non invasive and needs no hospital stay.

A non-invasive treatment option for OCD

OCD can trap people in a cycle of intrusive thoughts, images or urges and repetitive behaviours or mental rituals. These symptoms can become time-consuming, distressing and interfere significantly with everyday life.

The best-established treatments for OCD are exposure and response prevention (ERP), a specialised form of cognitive behavioural therapy, and medications such as SSRIs. For
some people, however, symptoms remain significant despite
these treatments.

TMS offers another treatment option. Deep TMS uses magnetic pulses to stimulate brain networks involved in OCD, without surgery or anaesthesia. Treatment is delivered on an outpatient basis, typically five days a week over six weeks.

Targeting the brain networks involved
in anxiety

Anxiety disorders involve changes in the way brain networks responsible for threat detection, emotion and cognitive control communicate with one another. The prefrontal cortex is one important part of these networks and interacts closely with deeper regions involved in fear and anxiety.

TMS uses magnetic pulses to influence activity within these
networks. Depending on the condition and treatment protocol, stimulation may be used to increase or decrease activity in a targeted cortical region, with effects extending through the wider networks to which it is connected.

TMS is not currently a standard first-line treatment for anxiety disorders. However, growing research suggests that it may help some people, particularly when conventional treatments have not provided sufficient relief or have not been well tolerated.

Changing how the brain processes pain

Chronic pain is influenced not only by signals from the body,
but also by the way the brain and nervous system process and
regulate those signals.

TMS is a non-invasive neuromodulation treatment that has been studied for several chronic pain conditions, particularly
neuropathic pain and fibromyalgia. Magnetic pulses are used to influence activity in brain networks involved in pain processing and pain regulation. For some people, this can reduce the intensity of their pain.

TMS does not require medication, injections or anaesthesia and may be considered when conventional treatments have provided insufficient relief or have not been well tolerated. The evidence is encouraging, but TMS is not yet a standard treatment for all forms of chronic pain, and suitability should be assessed individually.