Curious about TMS therapy for depression? This beginner’s guide explains what TMS is, how it works, who it helps, and what to expect during treatment.
You’re sitting in a chair comfortable padded chair. There’s a soft tapping sound near your head — not painful, just unfamiliar. Tap. Tap. Tap. You’re awake. You’re alert. You’re scrolling on your phone while it happens. This isn’t what you imagined when someone mentioned “brain stimulation” as a treatment for depression. You thought it would feel intense. Dramatic. Like a last resort. Instead, it feels… surprisingly ordinary. And yet, you’re here because nothing else has quite worked.
“Many of my patients are concerned when discussing the possibility of starting TMS treatment,” says Athena Care psychiatrist Dr. Justin Lapollo. “They instantly have visions of the Electroconvulsive Therapy scene from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” he says, noting that a lot of people don’t know that TMS actually looks like. “In reality, TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) is arguably the most powerful and safest medical treatment in the world for treatment-resistant depression.”
For people living with depression that hasn’t responded to medication alone, TMS can feel both hopeful and intimidating. It’s often suggested after months or years of trying therapy, adjusting medications, pushing through side effects, and wondering why relief never seems to last. You might find yourself thinking, “How can something this simple help something that feels so heavy?”
What is TMS?
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation or TMS is the first and only FDA-cleared treatment for depression that does not require surgery or medication and is safe and effective. In addition to treating depression, it may also effectively improve other conditions like Anxiety, PTSD, OCD, Addiction, ADHD, Eating Disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Chronic Pain.
TMS uses targeted magnetic pulses to stimulate areas of the brain involved in mood regulation — areas that tend to be under-active in people living with depression. Depression isn’t just emotional; it’s neurological. Brain imaging studies show that, with depression, certain regions responsible for motivation, decision-making, and emotional processing aren’t communicating effectively. TMS works by gently activating those circuits, encouraging healthier brain activity over time. There’s no anesthesia. No sedation. No medication moving through your bloodstream. Just focused stimulation and repetition.
Recent reporting highlights how clinicians and researchers alike are gaining deeper insights into how TMS works and why it can be effective, reinforcing its role as a scientifically grounded treatment option.
In fact, regulatory milestones over the past year reflect growing confidence in TMS therapy’s clinical relevance: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently expanded clearance of Deep TMS to include adolescents aged 15–21 with major depressive disorder, broadening access for younger patients who haven’t responded to conventional treatments.
Is TMS safe? Are there side effects?
“The main side effect patients experience from TMS is the mild scalp discomfort that happens when the magnet is delivering pulses,” says Dr. Lapollo. “This is due to the activation of nerves in the scalp and often decreases in intensity over the first few sessions.”
TMS treatment is safe, with none of the side effects associated with most anti-depressant medications. This means there is no weight gain, sexual dysfunction, sedation, stomach upset, or memory impairment. The treatment is non-systemic, which means it is applied directly to the affected parts of the brain and does not have to work through the digestive and blood systems to get to where it needs to go.
Since TMS is a non-medication based treatment without all of the side effects of medication, this makes it the ideal treatment for people who may have struggled with side effects in the past or who may prefer to avoid medications in general. Sometimes people experience a mild headache during the first couple of initial treatments, but it is generally well-tolerated.
What happens during a TMS session?
A typical session lasts about 20–40 minutes. You sit comfortably in a chair while a care provider positions a magnetic coil near your head, which delivers short pulses of magnetic energy to a targeted area of the brain.
- You may feel a tapping sensation, mild scalp discomfort at first, or slight facial muscle movement, but most people adjust quickly.
- Many patients read, text, or listen to music during sessions.
- Afterward, you can drive yourself home and return to work or daily activities right away — there’s no recovery period.
This comfortable, outpatient nature of TMS is one reason it’s steadily being adopted as a viable option for patients with treatment-resistant depression. Typically, patients receive TMS treatments 5 days a week for 4-6 weeks.
Who should use TMS?
TMS is often recommended for people who:
- Haven’t found sufficient relief from antidepressants
- Have experienced persistent medication side effects
- Want a non-medication treatment option
- Feel stuck in persistent brain fog, low motivation, or emotional numbness
It may also help individuals whose depression includes anxiety symptoms. While TMS isn’t an instant fix, its effects build over time. Many people notice gradual improvements over several weeks, such as clearer thinking, increased energy, improved emotional responsiveness, and daily tasks feeling less overwhelming. For some, the shift is subtle at first; for others, it’s noticeable and life-changing.
What to expect — realistic and effective outcomes
TMS isn’t a shortcut. It’s a structured, science-backed treatment designed to help your brain do what it’s been struggling to do on its own. Early improvements often show up gradually over several weeks of treatment rather than overnight relief.
Many patients report:
- Clearer thinking
- Improved mood regulation
- More energy and motivation
- Better engagement with daily life
TMS is an effective treatment. Research shows that over half of depressed patients who undergo TMS improve meaningfully by more than 50%, and approximately half of these patients experience full remission of their depression.
TMS is increasingly covered by insurers, which reflects an expanding appreciation of its role in treating depression that hasn’t responded to other interventions.
Next Steps
If depression has made you feel stuck, TMS offers a new path forward — one backed both by clinical evidence and by recent advancements in access, technology, and real-world use.
Athena Care offers TMS at multiple clinic locations in Tennessee, providing a comfortable, caring space for you to heal. You don’t have to navigate these mental health challenges alone. If any of the above resonated with you, reach out to Athena Care to understand learn how TMS therapy can help you.
If you or someone you love would benefit from talking to a mental health provider in Tennessee, call or text:
877-641-1155
One of our Care Coordinators will help you get the care you need.
Justin Lapollo, DO
Psychiatrist
Dr. Lapollo specializes in offering full spectrum outpatient psychiatric treatment including psychiatric medication management, individual psychodynamic psychotherapy, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) mapping/treatment, and Ketamine treatment.
Meg Stein, CFP
Editor
Meg is a certified mindfulness instructor and works at Alive and Aware Practice in Durham, NC. She has over ten years of experience as a content creator and marketing consultant, working in mental healthcare and social justice.
Zyonn Smith
Contributor
Zyonn is a student at Tennessee State University studying for a degree in Mass Communications currently interning at Athena Care.
Sources
- Athena Care. (n.d.). Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Athena Care. Retrieved January 28, 2026, from https://www.athenacare.health/services/interventional-psychiatry/tms/
- American Psychiatric Association. (2024). 12 notes about transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Psychiatric News. https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.pn.2025.11.11.4
- Psychiatric Times. (2024). FDA clears deep transcranial magnetic stimulation for adolescents with major depressive disorder. Psychiatric Times.
- Boston Medical Center. (2024). Transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy offers new hope for people with depression. HealthCity. https://healthcity.bmc.org/transcranial-magnetic-stimulation-therapy-offers-new-hope-for-people-with-depression/
- Rolls, E. T. (2023). Emotion, motivation, decision-making, the orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and the amygdala. Brain Structure and Function, 228(5), 1201–1257. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-023-02644-9