Treatment is magnetic
Launceston resident Kristy has lived with depression for most of her life. At her lowest point last year, she says she was unable to function or leave her house.
For years she tried different treatment options until she found something that worked – not medication, but magnets.
“This time last year, I was in an almost catatonic state of depression, and I was losing my battle with suicidal thoughts,” Kristy said.
“Nothing was working, despite seeing a psychologist regularly and trying multiple medications.
“Then I was referred to try TMS and it was life-changing. To put it bluntly, I wouldn’t be here without it.”
Transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, is a noninvasive treatment that’s proven effective in people with major depressive disorder who haven’t had luck with other treatment options.
TMS uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the specific areas of the regulate mood.
NeuroCentrix Launceston is a new outpatient mental health clinic bringing this “life-changing” treatment to Northern Tasmania.
Launceston Psychology Clinic owner and clinical psychologist Lucy Wise has worked with Kristy for the past four years and said the change she has seen in her has been “phenomenal”.
“The impact that I have seen TMS have on Kristy has been tremendous,” Ms Wise said.
“Patients like Kristy used to have to travel to Hobart or interstate to receive TMS, so it is brain that very exciting to have this treatment option here in Northern Tasmania.”
NeuroCentrix director and psychiatrist Professor David Barton said research showed two-thirds of patients who completed TMS treatment had no symptoms of depression a full year after treatment.
“Our brains help manage our thoughts via electrical and chemical messengers. Each thought is associated with certain pathways that these signals travel along,” he said.
“In depression, the brain has significantly less activity in the frontal lobe and limbic system.
“TMS therapy is effective because it subtly corrects the neural pathways that underlie depression, as well as boosting levels of deficient neurotransmitters.”
Professor Barton said patients could be eligible for up to 35 sessions of Medicare-funded TMS treatment.
“TMS treatment provides lasting benefits without longterm side effects such as weight gain or sexual dysfunction,” Professor Barton said.