Note that Dr. Stein is speaking of these two therapies' potential utility in treatment-resistant major depression.
What Are ECT and TMS?
ECT and TMS are two different therapy models, let’s see how they compare.
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What are the advantages of TMS over medication and ECT?
Long-term memory deficits, although rare, are also a potential complication of ECT.
TMS involves few side effects, thereby enabling patients to remain awake and comfortable during treatments.
Deciding Between TMS and ECT
Andy Behrman:ECT has always been considered a last resort.
Do you feel it’s the last stop in attempting to stabilize a patient with depression?
Dr. Kira Stein:Every day we are learning new and better ways to treat depression.
New psychotherapies, medications, brain stimulation techniques and even nutritional augmentations are developing all the time.
Andy Behrman:Should TMS ever be considered for patients who have not responded to ECT?
Is it fair to say that electrical or magnetic stimulation do the same thing?
It is thought that TMS and ECT normalize frontal lobe activity and connectivity with deeper brain structures.
