Patients who suffer depression in the most current episode, who have not felt improvement with one or more medications.

Other indications may include:

Every patient will spend roughly 40 minutes of the day, 5 days a week, in treatment. Each TMS session lasts 38 minutes and you’ll need time to prepare. It is a non-systemic treatment and patients are able to return to regular activities directly after treatment finishes. During TMS sessions you can take advantage of the Awakenings Netflix accounts or enjoy music.

Though some patients are able to live a life free of medications after treatment, most often we recommend for patients to expect to stay on atleast one medication for maintence purposes. The top priority at Awakenings is that you or your loved one are staying on a healthy and safe track to a depression- free life.

ECT is an effective acute treatment for major depression, but it is highly invasive (causing seizure induction and requiring anesthesia) and has significant adverse effects. In contrast, TMS is also effective in patients with Major Depressive Disorder but it is non-invasive and has an excellent safety profile.

ECT and TMS both use applied energy to the brain to cause neural stimulation for relieving the symptoms of depression. ECT uses electrical energy applied to the whole brain, while TMS uses magnetic energy applied only to the left prefrontal cortex.

Unlike ECT, TMS does not require anesthesia, sedation and the production of a convulsion, does not result in adverse effects on memory or concentration, and has an excellent safety and tolerability profile.

TMS treatment is contraindicated in patients who have conductive, ferromagnetic, or other magnetic sensitive metals implanted in their head or are non-removable and within 30 cm of the treatment coil.

Examples include cochlear implants, implanted electrodes/stimulators, aneurysm clips or coils, stents, and bullet fragments. Failure to follow this restriction could results in serious injury or death.

NeuroStar TMS treatment is the only TMS device that is FDA-cleared, and proven to be safe and effective for the treatment of patients with depression who have failed to achieve satisfactory improvement from prior antidepressant treatment.

NeuroStar TMS is non-systemic, which means it does not have side effects such as weight gain, sexual dysfunction, nausea, dry mouth, or sedation.

The most common adverse event related to treatment was scalp pain or discomfort at the treatment area during active treatments, which was transient and mild to moderate in severity. The incidence of the side effect declined markedly after the first week of treatment.