# What Are The Chances Of Relapse Of The TMS Treatment?

- Link: https://www.alquimedez.com/what-are-the-chances-of-relapse-of-the-tms-treatment
- Published: 2021-09-13T07:38:29+00:00
- Author: alquimedezhemo

Depression is one of the most prevalent diseases in the world. It has now become
among the leading causes of disabilities on a worldwide scale. Depression is a severe
mental health problem that requires immediate medical help. If we only take the 
US as an example to understand the severity of depression, then the numbers are 
alarming as more than 16million people in the US are living with depression.

The lack of knowledge about its possible treatments is one of the root causes of
its prevalence. Depression patients are usually suggested anti-depressants and talk
therapy in the initial stage. If they fail to respond to these two methods of treating
depression, then they are recommended to go for other treatments, including Transcranial
Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) has gained a lot of popularity over the 
last few years because it is an FDA approved treatment that has shown effective 
results for treating depression. TMS is an entirely safe, non-invasive treatment
with minor side effects, including temporary headache and muscle tingling. In rare
cases or patients with head injury or surgery history may have more severe side 
effects like seizures. TMS treatment usually has 4-5 sessions a week for 4-6 weeks.

Although TMS is one of the most reliable depression treatments available, its relapse
still has a question mark. Both the patients that have gone through the TMS therapy
and the patients that are planning to get TMS to ask us questions like “what are
the relapse chance of the TMS therapy?” “Till when will the anti-depressant effects
will last?”

Giving a definite answer to these questions is not possible. Why? Because the anti-
depressant effects differ from patient to patient. Some patients may face treatment
relapse after a few months. On the other hand, some patients might require booster
sessions every few weeks. It is advised to depression patients who have gone through
TMS treatment to go for regular checkups to ensure that there are no symptoms of
treatment relapse.

Nonetheless, if you see it from a broader perspective, TMS is one of the very few
depression treatments that promise long-term results/benefits as compared to other
anti-depressant treatments.

TMS is a newer depression treatment. It has been only 10 years since FDA has approved
it for treating depression; this is the main reason why not all mental health providers
offer Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) treatment, and most mental health 
providers that provide TMS treatment do not have enough experience. Due to limited
treatment data, it is difficult to draw conclusions about TMS, its long-term benefits,
and its expected relapse time.

However, TMS is a ray of hope for patients who, unfortunately, do not react to other
depression treatments. Additionally, according to pieces of evidence, TMS has proven
to be more beneficial at the prevention of relapse and recurrence of depression 
symptoms than other therapies.