Treatment-resistant depression is exactly what it sounds like: depression that is resistant to treatment. Many patients cannot find relief with medication or psychotherapy and face challenges with their mental health symptoms, which are often distressing and debilitating. For these patients, we recommend NeuroStar Advanced TMS therapy. NeuroStar is a non-surgical, non-invasive, and non-medication treatment option that can be a gentler alternative to other mental health treatments.
Here, we discuss the role of TMS in managing treatment-resistant depression, how it works, and the science behind it. For more information about NeuroStar, and to discover if this treatment is right for your needs, schedule your consultation with Premier TMS Centers of Los Angeles today.
Depression is not just a psychological condition that affects your daily living. It is a complex neurobiological disorder that affects your brain physically. Depression deeply impacts your brain structure, function, and chemistry. It disrupts important brain processes involved in mood regulation, behavior, cognition, and emotional processing by impacting the functioning of specific brain areas involved in these activities.
Neuroscience research has proven that patients with depression experience lowered functioning in key brain regions, including the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala. These patients also have imbalances in key neurotransmitters, including serotonin and dopamine.
Depression can impair neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to adapt, reorganize, and be resilient. Neuroplasticity allows the neurons in our brain to form and strengthen connections, which helps us adapt, learn, form memories, and recover from injury. These activities are hindered when depression impacts neuroplasticity.
TMS treats depression and other mental health concerns by stimulating strategic areas of your brain with magnetic fields, including the key brain areas associated with depression. During the NeuroStar treatment procedure, an electromagnetic coil is placed against your scalp near the forehead, which induces electrical currents in the underlying brain tissue of the strategic brain areas associated with depression.
The repeated pulses of magnetic energy delivered during TMS sessions essentially “wake up” your brain and stimulate brain activity, resulting in positive changes in brain activity and connectivity and improving neuroplasticity. NeuroStar plays a role in managing treatment-resistant depression by modulating neurotransmitter levels in the brain, such as serotonin and dopamine, to improve depression symptoms.
NeuroStar is a progressive treatment, meaning you will have multiple sessions over several weeks. The intensity, frequency, and location of stimulation are adjusted based on factors such as your response to treatment and any side effects experienced, allowing the patient to achieve customized treatment. The cumulative effect of repeated stimulation is believed to produce longer-lasting changes in brain function and mood regulation, allowing you to achieve long-lasting, enduring results.
When you live with treatment-resistant depression, NeuroStar TMS therapy can be a promising alternative to medication and therapy and can offer results in just six weeks.
At Premier TMS Centers of Los Angeles, NeuroStar is offered in a short treatment course by our clinical specialists, led by medical director Dr. Deirmenjian, who has 14 years of TMS therapy experience and specializes in TMS therapy for treatment-resistant depression. In fact, he was one of the early adopters of TMS therapy for patients with treatment-resistant depression.
For more information about the role of TMS in managing treatment-resistant depression, schedule your consultation for NeuroStar TMS therapy with Dr. Deirmenjian today.
Call (310) 246-9110