Anxiety disorders can cause your brain to become overstimulated, triggering your “flight or fight” response. The flight or fight response activates when you encounter a threatening situation. This response helps you either run away from or combat a threat by releasing hormones that make you feel alert and energized. The flight or fight response helped keep early humans safe from environmental threats, like predators and deadly weather. However, in the modern world, you rarely encounter threats that this response helps you avoid. With an anxiety disorder, you feel the same response but to non-threatening triggers.

TMS can help when you frequently feel overstimulated due to an anxiety disorder. With a non-invasive procedure, TMS can benefit anxiety disorders by calming specific parts of the brain with a repetitive, magnetic pulse. While some side effects may occur during TMS, you won’t need any sedatives and will be safe to return to your daily routine after your sessions.

The benefits of TMS for anxiety disorders include:

• Helping you manage severe anxiety disorders that have prevented you from seeking treatment in the past.
• Enhancing your recovery from anxiety by addressing brain overstimulation, which could be triggering your symptoms.
• Can be performed in an outpatient setting, meaning you would come into your sessions as you would for a regular doctor’s visit.
• Is safer and less risky than other forms of brain stimulation therapies.
• Can be used as a long-term solution to your anxiety symptoms, with 6 weeks of intensive treatment followed by monthly “maintenance” appointments.

Contact Wave Treatment Centers for additional information.

Most people feel the effects of TMS therapy after about two weeks of treatment. This time frame is relatively short compared to long-term anxiety medications, which might take 4 to 6 weeks for you to notice a difference. (Note: fast-acting medications for panic attacks, however, can bring relief quickly in a moment of heightened anxiety). Usually, two weeks is not a guarantee for results, as some factors can, in fact, impact the effects.

Factors influencing how long it will take to feel the effects of TMS include:

• Being treatment-resistant in the past can increase the time frame to notice results
• Your age (younger patients respond to TMS quicker)
• Using TMS to augment long-term medications expedites results
• High scores in persistence in the Temperance and Character Inventory test correlate with faster results

Contact Wave Treatment Centers for additional information.

TMS is still a relatively new type of treatment for mental health disorders. Overall, when treating anxiety disorders, TMS does not make anxiety worse. As with any new treatment, continued research is needed to understand the scope of TMS side effects fully. TMS might make anxiety worse when an anxiety disorder is not your primary diagnosis.

Additionally, feelings of anxiety can co-occur with other mental health conditions, like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. If your anxiety symptoms result from another primary mental health disorder, you may want to be cautious about TMS therapy. Remember to always consult with a trusted health care professional before beginning any type of therapy, especially newer techniques like TMS.

Contact Wave Treatment Centers for additional information.

Common symptoms of anxiety can include:

• Feeling on-edge or restless
• Difficulty concentrating and focusing
• Heart palpitations
• Profuse sweating
• Irritability
• Muscle tension
• Persistent feelings of worry
• Difficulty eating
• Trouble falling or staying asleep
• Racing thoughts

TMS therapy can help provide patients with relief from anxiety symptoms that have been elusive with other treatments.

Contact Wave Treatment Centers for more information about the treatment plan that's right for you.

Different types of anxiety disorders include:

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD): You might feel excessive worry about nearly everything in your daily life. With GAD, your anxiety symptoms could be triggered by ordinary concerns like money, work, or family.

Social anxiety disorder: This type of anxiety is triggered by social situations, like going to school, work, parties, shopping, and crowded places. Sometimes, social anxiety can be triggered by one-on-one situations, making it challenging to get help from a therapist.

Panic disorder: Anxiety symptoms can sometimes trigger a panic attack. Panic attacks can cause your heart to race and breathing to become shallow, often being compared to heart attacks. You may have a panic attack out of nowhere, causing even more anxiety, as you fear the possibility of a panic attack occurring in public.

Specific phobias: You might have an intense fear of something specific that poses no threat to you in your daily life. Common specific phobias include heights, flying, certain animals, blood, or injections during medical appointments.

Treatment with TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) can help you find relief from the symptoms of anxiety disorders.

Contact Wave Treatment Centers in Chestnut Hill to discuss the treatment plan that's right for you.

While every insurance plan is different, many insurance companies offer coverage for TMS therapy for people dealing with mental health crisis.

If you are considering TMS therapy for anxiety, our caring staff will help you determine what your options are for insurance or other payment plans.

Medicare covers TMS treatment for major depressive disorder in most cases, and may offer coverage for other conditions as well.

Contact Wave Treatment Centers for additional information.