Clinical depression is a mental health problem that besets millions of people in the United States each year. Persons of any age, sex or income level can and do experience the symptoms of depression each year. At any one time, over 6.5 percent of Americans are suffering from a depressive disorder.
In order to help treat depression, physicians, researchers and mental health workers have come up with a number of important therapies. One of the major ways that depression is treated is with the use of medications. These antidepressants come in a number of different classes. The SSRIs are among the first type of drugs used to combat depression. Some of the popular drugs in this class of medication are Prozac, Lexapro and Zoloft.
There are a number of other types of medications used to battle depression when these first line medications prove to be ineffective. Some other classifications of antidepressant drugs include MAOIs and tricyclic antidepressants.
While taking medications to combat depression is often effective, those with depression often must take these medications for an extended period of anywhere between six to twelve months.
Counseling is often used in combination with medications to combat depression. Those suffering from depression will meet with a physician or mental health worker a couple of times a week in order to find out why the patient is depressed.
Unfortunately, some types of clinical depression do not respond to medications, counseling or a combination of the two treatments. When this occurs, the depression is called treatment resistant depression.
For those suffering from treatment resistant depression there is an innovative therapy that is available from TMS Health Solutions. This therapy is called transcranial magnetic stimulation. Transcranial magnetic stimulation may be used in conjunction with other treatments to help a patient battle and win against treatment resistant depression.
TMS is a treatment that is non-invasive, and the treatment has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration(FDA). The treatment is carried out by emitting electromagnetic pulses into the brain. The magnetic pulses are directed at the area of the brain called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Patients will come to TMS Health Solutions each day for a period of four to eight weeks depending upon how the patient responds to the therapy. Each of the treatment sessions lasts from between thirty minutes to one hour. After the session is complete, the patient is able to go about his or her daily routine.
The TMS therapy is very well tolerated by the vast majority of those using the treatment. Some people in TMS therapy do report that they experience headaches. However, only about five percent of patients feel that they need to discontinue therapy. There have been no reports of systemic side effects by patients using TMS and TMS Health Solutions.
For those suffering from depression, there is help available. If the first line treatments such as medication and counseling are not proving to be effective, patients can try the innovative therapy known as TMS. Many patients are seeing their lives transformed by this new treatment protocol.
Sources:
https://tmshealthsolutions.com/how-can-we-help/
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20356013
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml
