MDD and TMS

How do you like those acronyms? Do you know what they stand for? Antidepressant therapies typically used to treat Major Depressive Disorder or MDD tend to be associated with sleep disturbances (sedating or activating). According to the National Institutes of Health, MDD affects approximately 14.8 million individuals, or about 6.7 percent of American adults in a given year and is the leading cause of disability in people ages 15 to 44. Enter TMS or transcranial magnetic stimulation. Researchers found that while powerful TMS of the frontal lobe of the brain can alleviate symptoms of depression, those receiving the treatment reported no effects on sleep or arousal commonly seen with antidepressant medication. “People’s sleep gets better as their depression improves, but the treatment doesn’t itself cause sedation or insomnia.” said Dr. Peter B. Rosenquist, Vice Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at the Medical College of Georgia at George Health Sciences University. This is good news.