We discussed TMS in our neuropsychology course and I think it may be in our clinical neuroscience course although we haven't gotten to the mood disorders part of it yet. From what I've read about it, it's a great procedure and produces fantastic results in patients. TMS is basically a figure-eight or sideways "8" very powerful magnet that through some technology, is able to stimulate the neurons in a given area of the brain. The person who gives the TMS treatment knowns roughly where to put the magnet based on what previous research has shown and they may provide a MRI scan of the individual patient.

The good thing about it is that it can treat numerous disorders because it can activate different brain areas depending where it is placed. However, I believe that it's meant mostly for mood disorders and possibly also anxiety disorders. I think it can be used for other disorders, although mood and anxiety disorders are the main focus. The other good thing is that it's non-evasive and you don't have to ingest any medications and deal with the long list of side-effects.

The one bad thing that I see in it, which really isn't as bad as other forms of treatment are, is that it may be temporary, in that you may need to return for more TMS treatments. I say it's not something "bad" because it's something to be expected with pretty much all forms of treatment. The other bad thing though is that since it's somewhat new, although it's not the newest form of neuro-technology, is that it may be expensive. I'm not sure how many insurances cover TMS treatment and for how many trials they do, assuming that they do cover it. The last bad thing, which has to do with it being new and popular is that there may be a waitlist. It's a wonderful form of treatment, non-evasive, simple to have done, etc... and so people want it, although only a limited amount of places perform it. Once again, I'm not sure how long the waitlists are but since the actual treatment process is not too long, I suspect that the waitlists shouldn't take too long, however, this is purely a guess on my part.

You also mentioned "shock therapies" and they've come a long way from how they originally started, not to mention how the initial research was done, I view shock therapies as more harmful. My grandmother had to have a few sessions of "shock therapy" and there was a brief time when she had some foggy memories. Bare in mind, despite her age, her memory is astounding although the fogginess went away fairly fast. However, as with TMS, shock therapies require multiple sessions as it is only a temporary treatment. It varies for individuals in how often they will require the shock therapies. The reason I view it as a lot more harmful than TMS treatment is that shock therapies are pretty much sending a large electrical current to "reset" your brain. Your brain can be thought of as an electrical engine and for the purpose of this example, a mental illness can be thought of as the engine isn't running properly. With shock therapy, you send a large electrical current to overload the engine, causing it to temporarily shut down and then start back up. It's analogous to when a computer gets surged, some data may be lost, some may be somewhat recovered and some will be perfectly fine. With shock therapy, it's a guess as to what memories will be affected, how many memories will be affected and for how long will the memories be affected.

However, as mentioned, shock therapy has become less brutish in that now the electrodes are modified and you receive certain sedations and painkillers. This is also assuming that these medications don't interact with any medications you may be presently taking. Overall, I'm not a strong supporter of shock therapy but I am a stronger supporter of TMS.