If you have anxiety, you how just how important relief is. You want to relieve the symptoms associated with it and not feel as though you’re worrying so much. TMS offers promise to those coping with anxiety disorders.
What is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)?
GAD is a psychiatric condition in which a person has excessive and uncontrollable worry, occurring more days than not, for at least 6 months. It’s also accompanied by at least 3 other symptoms, such as fatigue, irritability, and problems concentrating, among others. Generalized anxiety often occurs with other anxiety disorders, like panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and OCD. Sixty percent of people with an anxiety disorder have or have had depression. Many people with depression, who never had anxiety before, develop anxiety in the setting of their depression.
How Can TMS Help?
When TMS is used with the standard protocol on the left side over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the same pulses used to treat depression often lift the anxiety associated with it.
If anxiety is the primary symptom, and one or more anxiety disorders are present, TMS is used with a different position and pulse frequency protocol over the right sight of the brain. Many of our patients prefer right-sided lower frequency pulses and we have had excellent results in treating anxiety with these new off-label protocols.
We can even offer both left-sided and right-sided treatments in one treatment visit to target both depression and anxiety disorders simultaneously.
Are There Any Side Effects?
As with any treatment option, there are side effects, but they are minimal. Many patients report a slight headache during and after treatment for depression. However, when we treat patients with anxiety with low frequency protocols, headache is extremely rare.
Who Is This For?
If traditional medications haven’t been helpful, if you would rather not take medication, or if you’re pregnant or nursing, this is a great treatment option for you.
Anxiety can be debilitating and, while more research needs to be conducted, TMS is a viable treatment option. To learn more about how TMS can relieve your anxiety or to schedule an appointment, please contact us today.
To getting you back to your best self,
Lori Calabrese, MD
Can left sided tms therapy help anxiety and depression
Left sided positioning of the magnet is best for depressive symptoms but we use a variety of right-sided protocols for anxiety symptoms, and sometimes we combine both right and left sided treatments during the same treatment session for the best possible outcome.
It looks like you use a neurostar machine for both treatments correct ?
We use the Neurostar TMS for our TMS treatments only.
When you say lower frequency for anxiety on the right side , do you mean 70/80 or less. I have left the office more anxious and hoping. I’m not being overstimulated on the anxiety side. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
There are protocols that place the magnet on the right side (instead of the left) to specifically decrease anxiety. Please ask the psychiatrist overseeing your TMS treatment more about this.