The struggle for mental health around the world is still ongoing. Fortunately, science has advanced to greater heights and led to groundbreaking discoveries in treating mental disorders like anxiety.
This article will discuss transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) therapy for anxiety and how it can help people with anxiety. Moreover, we’ll discuss how it works and its safety for human use. But first, let’s talk about anxiety.
Defining Anxiety
Anxiety is defined by the American Psychological Association (APA) as “an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes.” Everyone has anxiety because it naturally arises from the defensive instinct of human nature. At its acceptable levels, anxiety is a normal emotion.
However, once anxiety reaches abnormal levels, it becomes a disorder. With an anxiety disorder, you tend to react to emotional triggers differently, affecting your daily disposition and dealings with the people around you. Anxiety takes many forms, and the term “anxiety” is just an umbrella term.
What are the Adverse Effects of Anxiety?
Anxiety results from stress. With too much stress and pressure caused by emotional triggers, anxiety builds up. Unfortunately, the human mind is like a cup. Once it cannot hold as much anxiety, it will cause an overflow of extreme emotions coupled with its physical manifestations.
Here are the effects of anxiety on your life:
- Constant worrying
- Feelings of nervousness and restlessness
- Hyperventilation
- Sweating and trembling
- Difficulty dealing with daily problems
- Increased heart rate
- Gastrointestinal problems
Common Treatment for Anxiety
A person diagnosed with anxiety can either go for psychological or psychiatric intervention. However, the former is preferred. For extreme cases, psychiatric treatment is advisable. Through psychological intervention, the patient will undergo sessions that’ll help them understand their emotions and control.
Whereas in psychiatric, the doctor will combine psychological sessions and medicines to help regulate the person’s emotional urges. Medications like Xanax help people with anxiety manage their disorders medically while building their relationships with other people. Unfortunately, drugs aren’t enough sometimes.
Some patients may experience more severe symptoms even with proper psychiatric intervention. A suggested course of action for this is the TMS anxiety treatment. Let’s talk about TMS in the next section.
What is TMS?
Neurologists and psychiatrists recommend TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) therapy to extreme-case patients of anxiety disorder. TMS is a noninvasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate the nerve cells in the brain. Do you remember how we described the brain as a powerful machine?
Nerve cells are like circuits that transmit information. If a circuit isn’t working, a machine can’t function properly. The same applies to the human brain. Once nerve cells stop functioning, it’ll affect or disrupt the regular operation of the brain, causing problems. With TMS treatment for anxiety, the procedure stimulates the nerve cells and gets them to work.
How Does TMS Therapy Work?
A TMS therapy for anxiety uses a specialized machine with an electromagnetic coil. The coil is housed in a compartment that’s placed on your head. The coil delivers short, powerful bursts of magnetic energy. The expert will position the coil on the left side of your brain’s frontal cortex. The energy emitted from TMS doesn’t reach the brain. It only penetrates two to three centimeters beneath the coil.
Once the magnetic energy is released, it will create small electrical currents that’ll stimulate your nerve cells. Neurotransmitters are believed to be released, and the nerve cells will work again as they should. When a person has a mental disorder, some nerve cells stop transmitting the information.
When this happens, it’ll affect a person’s ability to react or overreact to triggers caused by external stimuli. TMS aims to reactivate these nerve cells and help the brain function normally again. However, TMS doesn’t immediately work. It’ll take several treatments to see results or changes in the patient’s life.
TMS Therapy Process
- Initial Session for Motor Threshold Determination – the attending physician will map the areas of the brain that need stimulation. The technician and attending physician will determine the required amount of energy to penetrate the skin and the skull.
- Pre-treatment Procedure – the technician will interview the patient and ask about his emotional and mental experiences in the past days before the treatment.
- Treatment Proper – the technician will control the machine under physician-approved settings.
Is it Safe?
Yes, TMS therapy for anxiety is safe. It is non-invasive, and FDA approved. During the therapy, sedation is not required. You’ll be awake the whole time. However, you might feel a little discomfort once the apparatus is placed near your head. But there’s no need to worry about the minor discomfort. It will feel like someone is tapping on your head, but it’s not painful.
Is TMS the Solution?
Partly, yes. TMS alone can’t treat your anxiety. Experts suggest using TMS alongside psychotherapy and healthy living. With psychotherapy, the patient is exercising their brain to assess every emotion and keep it under control. Healthy living means that the patient follows good standards of coping when facing problems in life.
Awakening the nerve cells with TMS treatment plus those mentioned above may contribute to faster and better recovery. Experts recommend 30 treatments coupled with psychotherapy and personal effort. TMS anxiety treatment is only a supplement. Self-improvement and dedication are still required to get better.
Where Can I Get a TMS Therapy for Anxiety?
TMS treatment is available at Roots TMS in Long Beach, California. We’ve been treating mentally challenged people for more than eight years. As the leading behavioral and mental care provider, we have helped more than 1,000 patients recover from trauma, anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders.
Our TMS therapy for anxiety aims to help you overcome your mental challenges and face the world with a smile. Roots TMS is your safe place, and we can help you feel comfortable and protected under our care. Fill up the contact form or call us now at 562-203-0567 for faster accommodation.
