Archives
New Year’s Resolution: Treat Your Depression
By: W. Scott West, MD Following New Year’s Day, many people will pursue changes in their life directed toward an improvement in the quality of their lives. Frequently, this includes health and finance. However, an often unrecognized and underappreciated issue is depression. One of the blessings of being in the clinical practice of psychiatry is… Read More
What does Esketamine have to do with TMS Therapy?
What does Esketamine have to do with TMS? While this blog focuses on Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Therapy for depression, as good practice, I like to share my thoughts on new treatment options as they become available. Whether it’s advances in technologies, psychotherapy approaches or the latest medication, I’m committed to informing my patients on… Read More
Snapshot of Patient Success Stories with TMS Therapy for Depression
In this blog feature, while I typically discuss more of the mechanics and scientific aspects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Therapy for depression, this time I wanted to sidestep and highlight a handful of patient success stories for individuals that I’m currently treating to share their journey back to health. As a practicing psychiatrist, I… Read More
What do we know about Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Therapy?
It is sometimes helpful to recap where we are so we can make the best decisions about how to move forward. It helps to look at the facts and be realistic about where we are, what we know and what more we can learn to gain a fuller understanding of something in its current state… Read More
Seasonal Affective Disorder; Not Just the Winter Blues
Sometimes the Grinch visits. It might be winter, or it might be summer. It might be part of a larger picture of clinical depression, or it might be only seasonal. Having first been described in 1984, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) has become a recognizable diagnosis that warrants treatment as a type of depression that displays… Read More
Why It’s Difficult to Find Help for Depression
Over the last few years, it has been harder and harder to find resources for my patients to get the help they need. Being a believer in a multimodal approach to the treatment of psychiatric struggles, I will see people for psychotherapy, medications, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and until recently I would admit patients to… Read More
Treating Depression When Medication Doesn’t Work
The recent, tragic deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain are a reminder of the battle so many of us are fighting, often silently. Depression doesn’t discriminate, and even celebrities are a part of the 320 million people around the world living with depression. I’ve met many of these individuals in my line of work… Read More
Industry Meeting Recap: Treatment for Depression and Beyond
May 11 – 13, 2018 marked the Clinical TMS Society Annual Meeting, where 550+ attendees from more than 30 countries came together in Brooklyn, New York to share expert insight and discuss what’s ahead for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, or TMS. The two-day conference showcased the practical and the potential of providing TMS as a clinical… Read More
The Neurostar Advance Therapy Outcomes Registry
Depression Treatment Isn’t Always Apples to Apples
Recently, I came across an interesting depression treatment paper published in Brain Stimulation that I wanted to review titled, Simultaneous rTMS and psychotherapy in major depressive disorder: Clinical outcomes and predictors from a large naturalistic study. The purpose of this research was to see what happened with a group of people with Major Depressive Disorder… Read More
The Impact of TMS Through the Treaters’ Eyes
Eight years ago the team at ThriveLogic TMS + NeuroHealth (ThriveLogic) began providing Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) as an alternative option for treating depression. Just like medications or talk therapy, TMS is one tool in the depression-treatment “toolkit” providers are using to help people live healthier, happier lives. Over the years, it has become clear… Read More
Change is the Only Constant
It’s believed that Heraclitus once said, “the only thing that is constant is change.” And he may have gotten that right. Recently there have been numerous articles and news features about change, spanning various industries, regions, and cultures. Some stories that caught my attention, I’ll highlight in the following thoughts, but in general, the consistent… Read More
Dr. Scott West and NeuroStar TMS Therapy for Depression – News Channel 4 WSMV
Life is Too Short, and Life is Too Long to Let Depression Go Untreated
Depression is an immense health issue. It’s the number one psychiatric disorder in the western world, and according to the World Health Organization, affects 300 million people globally. It’s growing in all age groups and communities so fast that if it continues to increase at its current rate, it will be the second most disabling… Read More
Tend Your Garden and Cultivate Your Brain to Thrive
While I’m a psychiatrist by trade, I do have a bit of a green thumb when it comes to gardening—growing vegetables, flowers, shrubs and trees. Sometimes I have been successful, but many times my results were less than fruitful. However, over my 30+ years in private practice, doing inpatient psychiatry and nearly eight years providing… Read More
An Interview with Schatzie Brunner: TMS Therapy Patient Advocate and Former CNN Anchor
If depression appears to be in control of your life, you are not alone. Over 16 million people in the United States suffer from depression. More than four million individuals are not satisfied with their current treatment of antidepressant medication. If this sounds familiar, you may be “treatment-resistant.” Treatment–Resistant Depression (TRD) or treatment-refractory depression are… Read More
NeuroStar® Advanced Therapy Depression Outcomes Registry Surpasses 500 Patient Milestone
Preliminary results validate real-world outcomes and continue to demonstrate TMS therapy is an important non-medication treatment option for depression MALVERN, Pa., May 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — NeuroStar® Advanced Therapy, the established leader in transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), today announced its depression outcomes registry has exceeded 500 patients at approximately 50 treatment facilities in the United… Read More
What is This Thing Called TMS?
Recently I have seen the confusion on various types of neuromodulation treatments in articles. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) has been such a part of my life over the years that the confusion is confusing, but it is understandable when I step back and take a look. ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy), TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) and tDCS… Read More
From Then to Now: How TMS is Shaping Our Future
Seven years ago, my practice began using a new treatment for depression that was cleared by the FDA in 2008, called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). TMS is a technology I have been following for the previous 20 years, and it appeared to have the potential to help people struggling with depression that had not benefitted… Read More