TMS treatment for anxiety

We all get anxious from time to time, but when anxiety becomes a way of life it can get in the way of your relationships, your day-to-day life – even your dreams for the future. TMS can help you get your life back.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is an innovative approach to treating anxiety. It’s a non-invasive therapy that uses magnetic pulses to calm the areas of your brain that control our responses to threats or fears.

Anxiety is one of the most common mental health conditions in the UK, with up to 1 in 4 people suffering at some point in their life.

Anxiety symptoms can be both psychological and physical. These will vary person to person but may include:

• Restlessness
• Difficulty concentrating
• Feelings of dread
• Feelings of being on edge
• Problems sleeping
• Irritability
• Dizziness
• Heart palpitations
• Shortness of breath
• Dry mouth

Although anxiety can feel as though it is all consuming, it is treatable and Smart TMS see a significant amount of patients living a much improved quality of life after treatment.

Ultimately, anxiety is the body's way of protecting itself from perceived danger and is completely natural. In fact, as anxiety activates the "fight/flight/freeze" response, it is vital for survival when the danger is real (like coming face to face with a hungry lion, for example). It only becomes a problem when fight/flight/freeze responses impact day to day life.

When coming face to face with a lion, you might run away (flight), attempt to scare it off (fight) or stay completely still until it has passed (freeze). This response could save your life. The same response isn't as helpful in daily life, especially as many of us aren't going to come face to face with a hungry wild animal. For example, you may be extremely anxious about giving a presentation at work or school. You may respond to the perceived danger of the presentation by struggling to think clearly (freeze), by snapping at your co-presenters (fight) or even by leaving work early (flight). In this case, these three responses actually hinder you rather than help.

Experts aren't sure what makes some people less able to differentiate between real danger and perceived danger, but it could be down to previous bad experience, learned behaviour (for example, growing up with an anxious parent) or the chemical balance in the brain.

Some patients can manage their anxiety with self help courses or books, but group courses are also available. If the patient doesn't feel their anxiety improve, psychological treatment, like CBT, is often offered to teach mindfulness and other coping techniques.

If the you've not seen any improvements, antidepressants, such as SSRIs like Sertraline and Paroxetine may be offered. Benzodiazepines like Diazepam are very effective in treating anxiety, but shouldn't be used long term because they can become addictive quickly. Combinations of medication and psychological therapy see around 50% of patients responding to treatment.

At Smart TMS, we have a treatment response rate of around 70%, with a high proportion of our patients going into remission.

* According to the latest Smart TMS internal audit

Traditional methods of dealing with the symptoms of anxiety – from medication to therapy – don’t always work.

Research has shown that Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) can reduce the symptoms of generalised anxiety disorder.

How does TMS treatment work for anxiety?

TMS treatment uses a repetitive magnetic pulse to calm the parts of the brain that cause the symptoms of generalised anxiety disorder.

Smart TMS treatment for generalised anxiety disorder takes into account any related issues that could either cause or result from the anxiety, such as phobias and depression.

The full TMS treatment for anxiety usually involves 30 sessions, split into two courses of 15 sessions, which take place over a period of three to six weeks. Each treatment lasts 30 minutes, and some patients are able to have more than one session a day.

Read our testimonials from patients who’ve been freed from anxiety after TMS treatment.

What our patients say

Since receiving my TMS treatment, my anxiety has reduced so much that I have returned to work and am able to travel on my own, which I couldn't do before!

Jaime-Lee

When I was rushed to hospital with chest pain, my heart rate was at 120bpm and the doctors put it all down to anxiety. Medication didn't affect it but since having TMS, I can finally go on day trips with my family without worrying about another panic attack.

Sarah

TMS treatment has had lasting benefits over the past year. I'm much less irritable and am able to cope with unexpected problems much better

Mrs A

Continuous Care

The majority of our patients treated for anxiety go into remission following their TMS treatment. Life can, however, throw unexpected events at us, so the team at Smart TMS have developed a range of aftercare packages to keep our patients feeling well.

The Continuous Care aftercare packages available to patients treated for anxiety include:

Smart TMS Monthly: Monthly maintenance sessions of TMS, with the aim of avoiding relapse.
Smart TMS On-Demand: A membership scheme that allows you exclusive discounts on treatment, should you feel your anxiety levels begin to increase in response to stressful life events.

Have you had TMS treatment for anxiety at another clinic? Smart TMS can offer you maintenance therapy, too!

Learn more about Continuous Care

Is TMS right for me?

Generalised anxiety disorder is treatable, and Smart TMS can help.

Most people are suitable to receive TMS treatment.

To help you make up your mind about treatment, our practitioners offer pre-arranged clinic visits to answer any questions you have and show you the TMS machine.

If you would like to arrange a clinic visit, call the team on 0345 222 5678.