Results
Does TMS actually work?
It is the right question, and it deserves a real answer rather than a good one.
The context
What the research shows
Depression that has not responded to medication is hard to treat, and the odds get worse with every attempt.
The STAR*D trial, still the largest study of its kind, found that fewer than 30% of people reached remission on their first antidepressant. By the fourth medication, that figure was about 7%.
That is the context TMS sits in. It is not competing with a treatment that usually works. It is an option for people for whom the usual options have not.
Our clinic
What we see here
That figure is a response rate. Response means substantially better: the weight lifts, and things that felt impossible start to feel possible again. It is not the same as remission, which means symptoms resolve entirely.
Some of our patients do reach remission. Not all of them do, and we would rather tell you that plainly than let a number imply something it does not say.
Reading the numbers honestly
Why the two figures are not a fair race
You have now seen both numbers on this page, and they measure different things. The 7% is a remission rate for a fourth antidepressant. The 92% is a response rate for TMS at our clinic. Setting them side by side as though they were the same measurement would overstate the case, so we will not do it.
What is fair to say is this: for people whose depression has not responded to medication and therapy, TMS offers a meaningful chance of improvement where the alternatives have mostly stopped offering one.
The honest limit
The part nobody can tell you yet
Whether it will work for you.
No clinic can answer that before you start, and you should be cautious of one that tries. What a Medical Provider can do is look at your actual history, what you have tried, for how long, and what happened, and give you a real read on whether you are a good candidate.
That is what the consultation is for, and it is where an honest answer to your version of this question actually comes from.
What a course looks like
Seven weeks, 36 treatments
- Five days a week, about 20 minutes a session
- You are awake throughout and you drive yourself home afterward
- FDA cleared for major depressive disorder in adults and adolescents from age 16 who have not improved with prior antidepressant medication or therapy
- Overseen by a Medical Provider
Two questions usually come next: will my insurance cover it, and does it hurt.
Talk it through with a Medical Provider
The consultation is free, takes about 30 minutes, and commits you to nothing. Bring your questions.