Transcranial magnetic stimulation: drug-free treatment for depression
By Anita Roman, Fox 10 | Mar 13, 2017
GILBERT, Ariz. – If you’re suffering from depression or anxiety, a new treatment in the valley is offering some much-needed relief. It’s called transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS.
Dr. Jason Friday uses what some would describe as a non-conventional method.
“TMS is transcranial magnetic stimulation, so it’s a pulse magnetic field that we are able to localize in a particular area of the brain in order to stimulate the nerves within the brain and we can actually inhibit some of the nerves in the brain,” he said.
Dr. Friday says the difference between pills and TMS is that TMS causes the nerves in the brain to fire as opposed to manipulating them with chemicals.
“What we found in patients with depression is the activity in their brain is low there are areas in the brain that activity are very low so the nerves are not firing activity.”
“I think I’ve tried everything out there, but there’s side effects or it didn’t help,” said Andrew Rangel.