About Colorado TMS Services

Is TMS Therapy Uncomfortable? Does it Hurt?

No, BrainsWay’s Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, or Deep TMS™, is a noninvasive treatment therapy proven to help alleviate mental health illnesses and contribute to a better quality of life. Deep TMS therapy side effects normally do not include any significant discomfort, with patients usually reporting only a mild discomfort. During the Deep TMS process, the patient can hear a tapping sound and some pressure on the treatment site the Deep TMS machine is focusing on. The patient is supplied with earplugs to minimize the sound. The Deep TMS process can also involve some mild pain on the side of the patient’s head, which typically passes once the treatment is over, with most patients not reporting experiencing it later on.

In addition to the above real-time reactions, some mild and passing side effects have been reported by a minority of patients: in a recent BrainsWay study from 2019, patients suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD) who underwent Deep TMS treatment reported experiencing a headache following treatment. A small percentage of patients also reported site discomfort, site pain, jaw pain, lightheadedness, or insomnia following their treatment. While there is a rare risk of seizures to all forms of TMS, it is either less than or comparable to seizure rates experienced with antidepressant medication.

As BrainsWay’s Deep TMS process is noninvasive, all the equipment involved operates completely outside the body, without penetration of the skin. In cases where the patient experiences local discomfort during the procedure, the Deep TMS helmet placed over the patient’s head can be adjusted by the system operator to help diminish it.

Is Deep TMS covered by insurance?

The Deep TMS™ treatment offered by BrainsWay is at the forefront of TMS technology, offering patients treatment for mental health illnesses by focusing on brain structures associated with the conditions they are working to overcome.

TMS is covered by insurance providers differently around the world, but has strong acceptance for treating major depressive disorder (MDD), which in the U.S. has been FDA cleared since 2013. In more recent developments, Deep TMS was FDA-cleared to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in 2018, and smoking cessation in 2020.

Where covered by insurance, patients will typically incur the co-pay per treatment session dictated by their insurance plan. Where not covered by insurance, patients should speak with their mental health provider regarding payment options, or in some cases opportunities to create single case agreements with their insurance company to cover the treatment cost.

BrainsWay’s Deep TMS treatment is also covered throughout Europe and other regions, as more and more insurance providers offer different coverage and copayment plans to suit their clients’ needs.

Deep TMS has never been more widely accepted—and readily available—for those who might benefit from it.

How does BrainsWay Deep TMS treatment work?

BrainsWay’s Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (Deep TMS™) is a patented, noninvasive treatment process that has been proven to alleviate symptoms of mental health conditions such as Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

Deep TMS Treatment Procedure

During the Deep TMS treatment process, the patient is seated in a comfortable chair while a mental health practitioner fits a helmet apparatus holding BrainsWay’s patented H-coil technology onto the patient’s head. While the Deep TMS stimulator may be attached to separate treatment helmet simultaneously—for example, one geared toward treating MDD and the other for treating OCD—only one helmet and one patient can be activated at any given moment.

During the initial session, a mapping procedure will take place, involving single electromagnetic pulses delivered at different locations on the scalp, in order to determine the optimal treatment location and magnetic field strength. During all subsequent sessions, after making sure the patient is relaxed and the helmet is securely in place, the practitioner activates the Deep TMS device. The device then generates an electromagnetic field that safely stimulates brain regions found to be associated with the targeted mental health condition. The stimulation occurs for roughly 20 minutes, and may involve a brief verbal or visual exposure/provocation element to activate the neural pathways.

BrainsWay’s Deep TMS therapy has already been FDA-cleared in the US for both MDD and OCD treatment, and is CE Marked for additional psychiatric and neurological conditions in Europe. This innovative technology is an advancement of the standard TMS treatment, which was originally introduced in 1985 to help stabilize and regulate neural activity.