TMS for OCD
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD can be incredibly overwhelming, trapping people in an exhausting cycle. While many people find relief through therapy and medication, these approaches haven’t worked for everyone. In recent years, an emerging treatment that’s gained attention is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS): a noninvasive therapy that uses magnetic pulses to gently stimulate specific areas of the brain involved in mood and behavior. TMS is best known as a treatment for treatment-resistant depression, but newer technologies, like deep TMS for OCD, are now also being used to target areas of the brain involved with OCD.
In 2018, BrainsWay Deep TMS was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a treatment for OCD, an important step forward in the development of new treatments for OCD. TMS works by using magnetic pulses to influence activity in the specific parts of the brain that regulate and inform mood and behavior. For example, when treating depression, TMS typically targets the lateral prefrontal cortex, a region associated with mood regulation that tends to be underactive in people with depression. Deep TMS for OCD, on the other hand, is able to reach deeper brain areas linked to obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors, for example, the anterior cingulate cortex and related networks. By stimulating these areas, deep TMS aims to rebalance the activity in brain pathways that drive OCD symptoms.
Deep TMS is usually recommended for people with treatment-resistant OCD, that is, people whose symptoms haven’t sufficiently improved with standard treatments like medication or exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy. Many people with OCD will try several medications, usually selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), or spend months and even years in therapy before exploring other options. For those who still find their day-to-day lives dominated by their obsessive-compulsive symptoms despite these efforts, deep TMS can offer a different path forward. Because it works directly on the brain circuits involved in OCD, it can sometimes help reduce symptoms in people who haven’t found sufficient relief through more traditional treatments.
Brainsway Deep TMS is offered at the TMS Center of Colorado for the treatment of OCD. If you, or a loved one, experience symptoms of treatment-resistant OCD, give us a call at (720) 739-7334 to schedule your free phone consultation, or learn more about TMS for OCD here: https://tmscenterofcolorado.com/treatments/ocd/
