The Daily Mail investigated how innovative treatment at Smart TMS helped a patient whose long-term OCD had affected every aspect of his life, eventually resulting in a nervous breakdown.
The Daily Mail feature is entitled:
“Architect whose 28-year-battle with OCD saw him wash his hands 50 times a day and spend hours retracing his steps for ‘victims’ he thought he had killed claims he has been ‘cured’ after using MAGNETS”
The Daily Mail explains the severity of 46 year-old Alex Jones’ experience with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, symptoms of which included:
- Repetitive, frightening and intrusive thoughts – thinking he had harmed others
- Feeling compelled to retrace his steps out of the houseto check for his ‘victims’
- Washing hands up to 50 times a day until they were red raw
Alex told the Daily Mail about his experience with OCD which started at the age of 18:
“I started with the obsessive hand washing,then by the time I got to university it escalated and I began worrying that I’d harmed people. I would go for a walk and worry that I had left a trail of obstacles behind, such as tree branches and twigs that someone could trip over. I would have to go back and retrace my steps and check that I’d not done that. What was meant to be a half an hour walk would take several hours. It doesn’t sound rational but the condition overrides logic and makes you behave compulsively.”
Alex’s symptoms continued to worsen and took its toll on relationships including his marriage to wife Paulette. He explains:
“When Paulette and I were walking down the street, I would even worry that I had made passes at other women. She was always having to reassure me that I hadn’t.”
In 2009, Alex was out of work due to the recession and his mental health worsened.
“My OCD spiked with the stress, leading to a crippling bout of depression. I was given medication which had some effect to start with, but in the long term, it had little effect.”
He also tried CBT in 2012, but says:
“It didn’t really work. I didn’t feel like talking about my problems was enough to stop my obsessive thoughts.”
Finally, after year of trying treatments via the GP and other therapies, in 2017, Alex learned about Smart TMS, a company offering Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation – a treatment which uses pulses of magnetic energy, to stimulate or dampen down areas of the brain relating to psychiatric conditions.
He explains:
“I went to London, feeling anxious as usual being around people, afraid I would harm them. And I came out of the clinic, after one 30-minute session, feeling like my mind had been completely emptied of my obsessive thoughts. Paulette commented that as we travelled home, walking through hectic central London, that I’d not said anything. I’d not needed to ask her for any reassurance about anything.”
View Article in Full
See Daily Mail online – Architect whose 28-year-battle with OCD saw him wash his hands 50 times a day and spend hours retracing his steps for ‘victims’ he thought he had killed claims he has been ‘cured’ after using MAGNETS to read the feature in full.
More Information on OCD and TMS
Smart TMS Clinics
Smart TMS is a specialist provider of TMS treatment, located at clinics in London, Birmingham and Dublin with expansion planned for Manchester and Bristol in 2018. Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation therapy (rTMS) is a technological breakthrough in the treatment of depression with a variety of further potential treatment applications.
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