As the #1 physician-recommended transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) therapy on the market, NeuroStar is widely recognized for its effectiveness. Its technology is deeply rooted in the principles of neuroscience and offers powerful potential to enhance your mental health at a neurobiological level—directly within your brain. Here, we will discuss the science behind NeuroStar TMS therapy and depression, including the biological mechanisms that make TMS an effective treatment.
If you want to learn more about this option for treating depression, ask our expert mental health specialists. Schedule your appointment with The TMS Center of New Jersey to explore how NeuroStar TMS therapy works and to discover if this treatment fits your mental health needs. Together, we can treat your depressive and anxious symptoms.
Before you explore whether TMS treatment is right for you, it is helpful to understand some of the science behind how depression affects the body. Depression, like many mental health conditions, significantly alters your brain at a biological level. It does not just affect you psychologically—it also impacts you physically. This highly complex disorder changes your brain’s function and neurochemistry, disrupting critical brain processes involved in mood regulation, behavior, cognition, and emotional processing. In fact, these physical disruptions are what manifest as symptoms of your depression or other mental health conditions.
Research shows that key regions of your brain, such as the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala, function at lower levels in patients with depression compared to those without the condition. Patients who experience depression also often exhibit imbalances in critical neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine, which can further exacerbate and worsen their symptoms. Additionally, depression can impair neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to adapt and reorganize itself, making it harder to recover and maintain overall mental health and well-being.
NeuroStar TMS therapy is a non-invasive, non-surgical, and non-medication treatment that targets highly specific brain regions associated with mood regulation. During the treatment, an electromagnetic coil is placed against your scalp near the forehead. When activated, the coil generates magnetic fields that penetrate your skull, inducing magnetic pulses in areas of your brain linked to depression. These pulses strategically penetrate the depressed areas of your brain and activate the brain cells within them. Despite its power, this treatment is safe and well-tolerated by most patients.
The TMS Center of New Jersey provides NeuroStar TMS therapy through a seven-week treatment program, with daily sessions held five times a week. Each session lasts 19 minutes. The repeated magnetic pulses delivered during your daily TMS sessions can facilitate positive changes in your brain through neuroplasticity. By enhancing neuroplasticity, NeuroStar TMS can help normalize dysfunctional neural circuitry and function related to depression. Additionally, by stimulating targeted brain regions, NeuroStar TMS can modulate neurotransmitter levels, such as serotonin and dopamine, to alleviate depressive symptoms.
This treatment offers a high level of safety—in fact, NeuroStar TMS uses the same well-established technology found in MRI machines, and researchers have studied it extensively in clinical trials. Most patients tolerate it very well, making it a strong alternative to medication, talk therapy, or surgery. NeuroStar Advanced TMS therapy does not impair cognitive function in any way, nor do patients experience the systemic side effects that are common with medication. After each treatment session, you can immediately return to your normal daily routine. These are just some of the many benefits that this treatment offers our patients at The TMS Center of New Jersey. To learn more about the science-based evidence behind NeuroStar Advanced TMS therapy and its role in treating depression, speak to our specialists today.
NeuroStar Advanced TMS therapy is an effective mental health treatment for patients with depressive or anxious symptoms who have not found relief through conventional treatments, such as medication and psychotherapy. This therapy targets specific brain regions, boosts neural activity, and helps restore normal brain function while reducing depressive symptoms.
For more information about the science behind TMS and depression, contact our specialists at The TMS Center of New Jersey today.
