More than 16 million Americans experience depression every year, and around a third of them don’t improve with conventional treatment. TMS & Brain Health provides expert diagnoses and highly personalized treatment plans for this condition, including TMS for depression, ketamine infusions, and other treatment-resistant depression options. To learn whether our TMS therapy or other treatments are right for you, let’s learn about depression and how treatments interact with the disorder.
Depression is a mental health condition that interferes with your feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. It causes feelings of intense sadness and hopelessness and can disrupt your ability to function at work or at home.
In addition to intense sadness, hopelessness, and worthlessness, depression causes many other symptoms that can disrupt your health and quality of life. For example, some of the common signs of depression include:
Depression symptoms vary in their intensity, and you may not experience all of these symptoms. If you have thoughts of suicide, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room for immediate help.
Everyone feels down sometimes, but how do you know when to talk to a doctor? Depression often develops slowly, and you might not recognize what your symptoms are or how they’re impacting your life right away. However, if you have depression symptoms and they’re interfering with your life, call TMS & Brain Health to make an appointment or to learn more about our alternative treatments for depression.
TMS & Brain Health begins with a thorough evaluation of your symptoms, overall health, and lifestyle to confirm your depression diagnosis. We then create a customized treatment plan to alleviate your symptoms and restore your health and wellness.
The conventional treatment for depression is a combination of antidepressants and therapy. However, up to a third of people with depression have treatment-resistant depression — which means that antidepressants and therapy haven’t relieved their symptoms. What is treatment-resistant depression?
Treatment-resistant depression actually does not have a formal definition, and it is not a formal diagnosis. An individual may be considered “treatment-resistant” if they have tried at least two months of evidence-based talk therapy, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, in conjunction with an antidepressant. If one does not find adequate relief from this combination, they may be considered “treatment-resistant.” Some physicians may decide to try a number of different medications or combinations, even if one initially did not work. Other physicians may decide to send someone to a facility such as TMS & Brain Health.
TMS & Brain Health offers FDA-approved and alternative treatments for depression if the traditional approach hasn’t worked for you. If you have experienced side-effects from medication, or just haven’t found the relief that you desire, we have a variety of innovative, short-term options for you. We offer Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, an FDA-approved modality for depression since 2008. Moreover, we specialize in intermittent theta-burst, or “Express TMS,” which can help to treat depression in as little as three minutes per session.
We also offer low-dose ketamine infusions for depression. This is a safe and effective way to treat depression rapidly. The former director of the National Institute for Mental Health has said that “Ketamine, given intravenously, might be the most important breakthrough in antidepressant treatment in decades.” For those who are afraid of needles, or want a ketamine procedure that is FDA approved, we also offer Spravato™ esketamine nasal spray for treatment-resistant depression. Spravato™ must be taken with at least one oral antidepressant medication. Rest assured, however, we have seen amazing results from our ketamine infusions in Los Angeles and Santa Monica. Ketamine is faster acting than traditional antidepressants, as it works almost instantly to treat your symptoms. With normal medications that your doctor might prescribe, patients often have to wait weeks to months to start seeing improvements.
We must also note that these treatments we have mentioned, such as TMS or ketamine infusions for depression, are applicable to other mental disorders. For instance, if you suffer from OCD or PTSD, we want you to know that our treatment methods show promise for those conditions, as well.
Call TMS & Brain Health or request a consultation online today for expert, personalized treatment for your depression.
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