TMS Therapy
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive treatment for depression that may help when medication alone hasn't provided the relief you need.
Is TMS Right for Me?
Whether TMS is right for you depends on your history, your current treatment, and a careful conversation with a physician. What follows should help you decide whether that conversation is worth having. Exploring it commits you to nothing.
You may want to discuss TMS if…
- You’ve been treated for depression, and it’s still hard.
- You’ve tried one or more antidepressant medications without enough relief.
- You’ve found yourself asking whether there are options beyond another medication.
- A psychiatrist, therapist, or physician has raised TMS with you.
Your physician considers…
- Your diagnosis, and how your depression has responded to treatment so far.
- The medications and therapies you’ve already tried.
- Your broader medical history.
- Your goals, concerns, and preferences.
This isn’t a checklist to qualify against — it’s the shape of a careful conversation. Your physician will discuss the full picture with you.
TMS self-assessment
An optional questionnaire you can complete on your own, before you call. It asks how often certain symptoms of depression have bothered you over the last two weeks, and how many antidepressant medications you take now or have tried — a way to organize your symptoms and treatment history before you talk with us.
Its answers are not a diagnosis, and they do not decide whether TMS is right for you. That decision is made in a clinical evaluation with a TMS physician.
The questionnaire is hosted by an external assessment provider, not by this website. It asks for your date of birth and contact details, and when you finish, it asks you to agree to Atlantic Psychiatric Centers contacting you.
It is not a substitute for emergency or crisis care. If you are experiencing an emergency, call 911. For mental-health crisis support, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
The clinical evaluation
Whether TMS is right for you isn’t decided by a website, a checklist, or a questionnaire. It’s decided in a clinical evaluation with a TMS physician who knows your history and answers your questions.
Your history
Your TMS physician reviews your clinical history with you — your diagnosis, and the broader medical history any treatment decision has to account for.
What you’ve already tried
You talk through the medications and therapies you have already tried, and how your depression has responded to treatment so far.
Whether TMS is appropriate
Your physician considers that history alongside your goals, concerns and preferences, and talks with you about whether TMS makes sense as a next step.