WHAT IS TMS?

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

The TMS Institute of Colorado Springs is Colorado’s premier treatment clinic for psychiatric disorders and brain disorders such as depression, anxiety, autism, OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), chronic pain, PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, smoking cessation and stroke rehabilitation.
TMS, transcranial magnetic stimulation, has been used by psychiatrists since 1985 to treat brain disorders. It was approved by the FDA for treatment of major depressive disorder in 2008.  TMS utilizes an insulated magnetic coil to stimulate the brain’s electrophysiology in a non-invasive manner, resulting in improved brain activity. 
The magnetic coil produces an electromagnetic pulse which passes easil and painlessly through the skull focusing on an area of the brain called the prefrontal cortex. Stimulation of this area of the brain affects the limb ice and reward centers of the brain which is involved in mood regulation. When these pulses are administered in rapid succession, over a period of time, they produce long lasting changes in brain activity.
The treatment session is about 20 minutes long, where the patient sits in comfortable lounge chair and a magnetic coil rests on the scalp. The experience is described a tapping sensation and sound that is heard. After the treatment, the patient can resume all normal activities with out any restrictions. Typically, five session a week are offered and occur over a  six week course.
rTMS, or repetitive TMS has been shown to be an effective treatment for many brain disorders. Deep TMS, with an H-shaped coil, was developed as an improvement on the original figure-8-shaped coil. The H-shaped coil created by Brainsway, has been shown to have superior effectiveness as compared with it’s original TMS predecessor. The treatment time is reduced from 40 minutes to 20 minutes with the Brainsway TMS machine.
Studies have shown that deep TMS is more effective than the original TMS treatments offered. The deeper and broader field induced with deep TMS has shown greater efficacy, with 1 in 3 patients achieving remission from depression after 4 weeks of treatment. A comparison of the study completed in 2013, showed that depression scores improved by nearly double with the deep TMS H-coil,  Brainsway treatment as compared to the older figure-8 device (Neurostar).