Typical TMS Therapy Course

You’ve decided that TMS is worth the effort and you want to pursue treatment. Awesome! But how much effort is actually required? There’s no question about it, TMS is a commitment. But it’s a commitment to your health and that alone is worth the endeavor.

No course is necessarily “typical,” but here are some common aspects you can anticipate.

Length of Treatment

The ability for TMS to provide relief of symptoms varies greatly from person to person. Therefore the length of a TMS Therapy course can vary greatly. Your doctor will recommend a schedule of sessions based on your individual needs. So, while patients typically receive 20-30 treatments over a 4-6 week period, the actual number of treatments can range anywhere from 10-60 treatments over a 4-10 week period. Treatments are performed on weekdays, usually five days a week, and each procedure lasts approximately 30-60 minutes.

In addition to TMS treatments, patients are usually asked to keep an appointment with a doctor, psychiatrist, or therapist to assess progress and note the condition of symptoms. Patients are also encouraged to attend recommended appointments with psychiatrists, therapists, or other providers of ongoing mental health care.

While every TMS Therapy course is different, most clinics and doctors agree that the average cycle of TMS therapy looks like this:

20-40 total treatments
Conducted over a 4-6 week period
5 Treatments a week
Each treatment lasts 30-60 minutes

Who is Involved

There is variation in who is involved with your treatment. At a private practice, your doctor will often times act as the sole team leader, overseeing the total responsibility of the patient’s treatment and progress. Clinics, on the other hand, tend to utilize the team approach to TMS Therapy. They almost always operate as a team of doctors who collaborate and share the duties of working with their patients.

Regardless of whether TMS Therapy is administered through a single psychiatrist or a team, you should always expect a trained TMS technician to administer the actual treatments and guide you through each session. The trained TMS technician or the TMS prescribing doctor should always be present to monitor the patient during treatment. The patient should be allowed to stop a treatment at any time by asking the staff member present.

Feeling the Effects

Clinical studies have shown continually that patients should be treated for a minimum of four weeks to ensure optimal treatment and experience the strongest results. The wide majority of TMS prescribing doctors confirm in their personal experience that most patients begin to feel relief from symptoms after 4 weeks of treatment. Some patients may experience results in less time, while others may take longer.

Patients are traditionally reassessed for clinical progress by the prescribing doctor after set intervals. During the course of TMS Therapy your doctor should continually reevaluate your condition and response to treatment and conduct periodic re-evaluations of the dose level as well as coil placement to ensure the most efficient treatment. Additionally, patients are assessed for side effects before and after each TMS treatment. In more intensive instances, the TMS prescribing doctor will assess the patient daily.

The Dip

The Dip is a term used to refer to the effect which sometimes happens when progress of your TMS Therapy is temporarily reversed. Initially, researchers dismissed this slide in progress as an anomaly in treatment. However, as more clinical studies are conducted, it is becoming apparent that a sizable number of patients may experience The Dip during their treatment.

Symptoms of The Dip can include a sudden and deepening increase in depression, and it can appear as though there has been an almost complete reversal of progress. For this reason, The Dip can feel very defeating and cause significant stress to a patient undergoing TMS Therapy. However, it is important to remember that these effects are only temporary. People who experience this reversal in progress appear to usually gain it back, and tend to continue towards the goal of alleviating their depression symptoms.

Unfortunately, at this time, not much is known about what causes The Dip, only that its effects are temporary.

Though adverse side-effects are rare during TMS Therapy, patients should be carefully monitored for worsening symptoms, signs of suicidal behavior, and/or unusual behavior. Families and caregivers should also be aware of the need to observe patients and notify their treatment provider if symptoms worsen. Depression symptoms should be discussed with your supervising psychiatrist or doctor throughout the treatment course.

You do not need to take any special dietary precautions or make changes to your routine before or after a TMS session or during the course of your treatment.

Typical TMS Therapy Course

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