TMS for OCD: Breaking Free from Obsessions and Compulsions
Finding ways to cope with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can feel like a never-ending battle – particularly when traditional treatment options, like medication and therapy, don’t have the intended effect on your well-being. Feelings of hopelessness are all too common for people suffering from OCD.
However, new solutions are challenging what people know about treating OCD, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation for OCD.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, is an alternative treatment for individuals suffering from mental illnesses like OCD. Choosing TMS therapy for OCD has numerous benefits that make this treatment option the perfect solution to provide hope and relief for people with OCD.
But what is TMS for OCD, how does TMS work, and what are the benefits of transcranial magnetic stimulation?
Read more below to find out.
What is Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for OCD?
Transcranial magnetic stimulation, abbreviated as TMS, is an alternative treatment technique using a magnetic field to influence the brain’s normal patterns. This treatment is non-invasive and works by applying powerful magnetic fields to brain areas that are most involved in conditions like OCD.
TMS applies short magnetic pulses to alter your brain’s electrical activity and was first developed in 1985. Since its inception, TMS has been used to treat a breadth of mental health conditions. Beyond OCD, TMS therapy is suitable for treating individuals struggling with depression and anxiety.
TMS for OCD is ideal for people who haven’t experienced success with other treatment methods, including traditional medications and therapies. TMS sessions traditionally occur over a 4-6 week process – however, accelerated TMS treatments can occur in as little as five days.
The US Food and Drug Administration approves TMS for treating mental health conditions. It carries fewer side effects than many traditional treatments, making it a suitable option for many.
What is Accelerated TMS Treatment for OCD?
Accelerated transcranial magnetic stimulation for OCD involves the same process of using a magnetic coil to target brain areas most commonly associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, accelerated TMS for OCD differs from traditional TMS treatments because it occurs over a much shorter time frame.
Traditional TMS treatments take up to six weeks to complete – but accelerated TMS treatments for OCD can be completed in as little as five days by healthcare professionals like the experienced physicians at Kind Health TMS.
How Does TMS Treatment for OCD Work?
While TMS for OCD is a non-invasive and safe process, knowing what to expect before your first appointment is essential to prepare. TMS therapy for OCD follows a simple, four-step process, broken down below.
Comprehensive TMS Evaluation
The TMS for OCD process begins with a comprehensive evaluation from the physicians at Kind Health TMS. During your evaluation, you’ll meet with a physician who will assess your OCD symptoms to determine whether transcranial magnetic stimulation is an appropriate treatment for your condition.
Physicians will consider your current OCD symptoms, medical history, and past treatment attempts – such as medications to treat OCD – and their effectiveness. Based on this information, the physician can determine whether you are a suitable candidate for TMS therapy.
Personalized Treatment Plan
Following your initial evaluation, your physician will create a personalized treatment plan to treat your OCD using TMS therapy. The professionals from Kind Health TMS create plans tailored to your specific needs, determining the precise brain areas that will be targeted and stimulated during TMS treatments.
This step allows our team to determine the most appropriate treatment path to get the best results – ensuring your TMS therapy goes off without a hitch.
TMS for OCD Treatment Sessions
Once your personalized treatment plan is created, you’ll begin the process of attending your accelerated TMS for OCD treatment sessions. While traditional TMS sessions could take up to six weeks to be effective, accelerated TMS provided by the team at Kind Health TMS can be completed in five days – meaning you’ll see promising results fast!
TMS sessions are non-invasive and safe, with few side effects compared to other treatment methods. Because of this, TMS treatment is typically simple for the patient and doesn’t require too much on their behalf.
Your treatment sessions will occur as follows:
- Your TMS technician will offer earplugs to wear during the procedure. While TMS sessions are relatively painless, clicking sounds occur with magnetic pulses that could cause some discomfort. Earplugs will help minimize this discomfort to ensure the treatment is as smooth as possible. No anesthesia is required for TMS therapy. Your technician will have you sit in a comfortable chair, and you’ll remain awake throughout the procedure.
- Before the treatment begins, a TMS technician from Kind Health TMS will measure your head to determine the best place to position the magnetic coil and deliver pulses to the brain. Your technician will also take other required measurements to determine the best settings for the TMS machine. The technician will place the coil appropriately above the brain’s frontal area based on these measurements.
- Once the coil is placed correctly, your TMS treatment for OCD will begin. You’ll hear a clicking sound indicating magnetic pulses are released into your brain in the targeted areas. While you will likely feel a tapping sensation beneath the magnetic coil, this sensation is painless.
- Sessions last between 10 and 20 minutes each. Following your treatment, you can go home – and because of the lack of anesthesia, you can even drive yourself!
Progressive Symptom Improvement
Throughout your TMS for OCD sessions, you’ll start noticing progressive improvement in your OCD symptoms. Improvement might include reduced feelings of anxiety, enhanced overall well-being, less focus on obsessive-compulsive behaviors, and a reduced sense of worry when you don’t act on compulsions.
It’s important to complete the whole five-day treatment process to get the best results from TMS treatment for OCD.
What are the Benefits of TMS for OCD?
TMS therapy for OCD is one of the best alternatives to traditional medications and therapies that aren’t always effective in targeting core OCD symptoms.
However, if you’re considering TMS treatment for OCD, it’s important to understand what you can expect to gain from this procedure. Below are the specific benefits of TMS for OCD to consider as you approach your first treatment session.
TMS for OCD is Non-Invasive
One of the most notable advantages of choosing TMS is that it is a non-invasive procedure. TMS treatments for OCD don’t require any anesthesia or surgery, meaning TMS is a highly safe and secure treatment option for individuals who haven’t experienced success with other treatments.
If you’re struggling with OCD, TMS is a comfortable option that doesn’t cause stress and anxiety like an invasive procedure would.
Accelerated TMS for OCD is an Efficient Treatment
Most treatment options for OCD take a significant period to be effective. Medications can take weeks or months to show a difference, while therapy is often a slow and progressive process that might not always provide the fast results you’re looking for.
An advantage of TMS therapy for OCD is that accelerated TMS is an incredibly efficient treatment option. Even traditional TMS, which takes up to six weeks to complete, is generally faster than conventional treatments – however, when you choose accelerated TMS from professionals like Kind Health TMS, you’ll have faster results than any other treatment can offer.
Accelerated TMS allows you to regain your quality of life in no time, returning to normal in just a few days.
TMS for OCD has Few Side Effects
One of the biggest downsides of traditional OCD treatment options like medication is the onslaught of side effects you might encounter. From worsening symptoms to fatigue, weight gain, and more, there’s no guarantee that the positives of conventional treatments will outweigh the negatives.
TMS for OCD has very few side effects, making it a more practical solution for many people, especially those who have experienced negative side effects from previous treatment methods. TMS helps more than it hurts – something that not all other treatment options can guarantee.
TMS for OCD Can Improve Your Mood
Low mood is a natural side effect of OCD – when you spend most of your day battling obsessive thoughts and irresistible compulsions, your mood takes a toll. TMS for OCD is effective because it targets low moods and helps promote motivation and hopefulness in people with OCD who might struggle to see the bright side in daily life.
Individuals struggling with a low mood because of OCD can have their lives transformed by TMS treatments, regaining a higher quality of life and taking control of difficult OCD side effects.
TMS for OCD Helps Improve Sleeping Patterns
People suffering from OCD experience a range of symptoms, and one of the most troubling is insomnia and other sleep disorders. Studies have shown that people with OCD are likelier to struggle with insomnia and other sleep issues, such as delayed sleep phase disorder.
Difficulty sleeping is a direct result of obsessive thoughts that plague the mind and keep people with OCD feeling trapped and alone. One of the primary advantages of TMS for OCD is that TMS is proven to improve sleeping patterns – meaning you can fall asleep and stay asleep better than ever before.
TMS Helps Reduce Anxiety
OCD is an anxiety disorder, and people with OCD are no strangers to intense bouts of anxiety and crippling anxious thoughts that make going about their day feel impossible. If your OCD is causing extreme anxiety and panic attacks, TMS might be the perfect treatment for you.
TMS for anxiety is one of the most known advantages of this treatment option, and TMS is practically guaranteed to have a positive influence on your anxiety symptoms – giving you newfound relief and relaxation that you haven’t experienced in ages.
TMS Helps With Depressive Symptoms
One of the core objectives of TMS therapy is to address feelings of depression. Researchers often say that depression is a natural part of OCD, and it’s incredibly common for people struggling with OCD to experience symptoms of depression or be diagnosed with major depressive disorder.
TMS for OCD is critical for alleviating debilitating depression symptoms that harm your quality of life and make your daily struggles with OCD even more difficult. By choosing TMS therapy for OCD, you don’t just target the symptoms of OCD – you target everything causing you mental distress.
TMS for OCD Doesn’t Require Medication
Another significant benefit of TMS treatment for OCD is the lack of medication this treatment requires to be effective. While medications like antidepressants help alleviate some of the symptoms of OCD, there aren’t many medications available that specifically target OCD over other conditions like depression and generalized anxiety disorder.
TMS doesn’t require medication, meaning you can eliminate the constant search for the right antidepressant to treat your OCD. And with a lack of medication comes a lack of debilitating side effects that many medications cause – providing even more relief for your OCD symptoms.
What are the Side Effects of TMS for OCD?
There are many advantages of TMS for OCD that make TMS therapy one of the best options for treating obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, every treatment method has some side
effects to consider before deciding whether it’s a suitable solution for you.
Knowing the possible side effects you might encounter from TMS treatment is important to prepare for your first TMS treatment session. The side effects of TMS for OCD are relatively mild and include the following:
- Brief lightheadedness
- Mild headaches, which typically fade quickly after treatment
- Sleepiness and drowsiness
- Mild tingling sensations
It’s important to note that people with epilepsy or other neurological conditions that can cause seizures are generally unsuitable for TMS treatment for OCD. In rare cases, a seizure can result from TMS treatments – however, this only occurs in 0.1% of patients receiving TMS therapy.
Get Accelerated TMS for OCD From Kind Health TMS
TMS treatment for OCD can transform your life, allowing you to take back control over your daily actions and eliminating the obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors that have taken over your life. Kind Health TMS provides the best accelerated TMS treatment for OCD available to help you recover from your OCD symptoms in no time.
The physicians from Kind Health TMS are equipped with the skills necessary to conduct TMS treatment sessions safely and effectively. With Kind Health TMS, you’re guaranteed to be in good hands.
Contact the team at Kind Health TMS today to discuss your treatment options and schedule a consultation!
Meet the Author
Dr. Georgine Nanos, MD, MPH
Founder of Kind Health Group