If traditional treatment methods have not been enough to help your symptoms of depression, you may want to consider alternative interventional modalities, such as TMS Pasadena treatments. Before incorporating new procedures into your treatment plan, it can be helpful to look into any potential side effects. Depending on the symptoms of depression that you experience, you may want to know if TMS procedures could potentially lead to memory loss.
The Relationships Between Memory, Depression, and TMS Pasadena
Your memories are stored and managed in your hippocampus, a sub-cortical structure deep within your brain. When this part of your brain is healthy, memory storage and retrieval are easy. However, an individual with an unhealthy hippocampus may have trouble storing and retrieving memories.
Depression has been linked to confusion, forgetfulness, and short-term memory loss. This is often associated with the fact that depression can alter parts of the brain – including your hippocampus. In fact, some studies have found that some depressed individuals may have a smaller hippocampus than non-depressed individuals due to hippocampal atrophy caused by cumulative stress.
Because some level of memory loss is already associated with depression, it is natural that you do not want to treat your depression with a treatment that could potentially make this worse. This is not a concern with TMS procedures. At this time, there is no evidence linking depression TMS Pasadena with a negative impact on memory, concentration, or cognition.
What to Know About Depression TMS Pasadena
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is an FDA-approved procedure that regulates the neural activity of brain structures associated with depression. As a Pasadena depression treatment center, the team at Pasadena Neuropsychiatry utilizes BrainsWay deep TMS (dTMS). These procedures use a magnetic field to safely and effectively reach the deeper structures of the brain, allowing us to relieve symptoms in individuals with Treatment-Resistant Depression, Anxious Depression, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
dTMS treatments are non-invasive, do not involve anesthesia, and require no recovery time. Negative side effects for this depression TMS procedure are uncommon; some individuals may get headaches or experience muscle twitching or jaw pain following the treatment. Those effects tend to lessen over the course of the treatments.
Does TMS Affect Your Memory?
Many clinical trials and studies have found that TMS procedures do not damage memory; in fact, they may have the opposite effect. One study found that TMS may contribute to the development of new brain cells in the hippocampus. As such, TMS therapy may encourage growth in a hippocampus that was atrophied by depression. Over time, this could potentially help reverse the short-term memory loss, confusion, and forgetfulness that some individuals experience due to depression.
Find Help at Our Pasadena Depression Treatment Center
At Pasadena Neuropsychiatry, our team specializes in helping our patients through our evidence-based interventional treatment modalities – including BrainsWay dTMS treatments. Our procedures are non-invasive, safe, and effective. We will collaborate with you, your physician, and any specialists that you meet with to determine your ideal mental healthcare solutions. Please contact us to learn more about how we can help.