How TMS Therapy Helped a Young College Student Take Back Her Life

By: Dr. Jayson Tripp, MD

6/12/2019

Just a few weeks ago, Inside Edition  reported on a young woman from New York named Juliette DePalo. Juliette is 21 and struggled with anxiety and depression since she was 13. In the article, Juliette talked about how her depression and anxiety manifested in bouts of anger and irritability and how it became more and more difficult to socialize and even go to school and complete her assignments.  

When she was 15, Juliette began seeing a therapist and taking medication to treat her symptoms. And while it helped at times, she says she often felt herself slipping. She said she would eventually plateau and have to switch medications, which was discouraging to her.  

When Juliette went to college in Boston, she, like many other young college students, had trouble regularly taking her medication. And eventually, it became hard for her to leave her dorm room and get to class.  

That’s when she learned about BrainsWay Deep TMS, a technology that could stimulate the areas of her brain that were being affected by depression without any long-term side effects. After a few weeks, Juliette says it felt like a weight was lifted off her shoulders. She felt less lethargic, had much more energy, and her appetite was back.  

She was able to return to college and lived medication-free for six months, and she is planning on receiving some booster treatments while she is home from school this spring. Juliette says she is excited that she has found a treatment that works for her. And her advice to others struggling is that if medication isn’t for you, then it isn’t the end of the line. You can read Juliette’s full story and watch a video of her Inside Edition’s website .  

It’s wonderful to see so many people who’ve had a positive experience with Deep TMS. Like Juliette said to Inside Edition, if you haven’t found significant relief through medication and therapy, you still have options! BrainsWay Deep TMS has helped so many people take back their lives, and it can help you too!  


How TMS Therapy Works 

Like Juliette said to Inside Edition, your first TMS appointment takes about 40 minutes to an hour. Before you can start TMS therapy, they need to measure your head to find the part of your brain that will be most conducive to the stimulation. Then they put a protective cap on your head before placing the helmet on, which contains the TMS magnet.  

Once the TMS tech has found the appropriate placement for the helmet, you are ready for stimulation. Again, as Juliette said, it can be a weird sensation, like someone is knocking on your scalp. TMS is also loud, like Juliette mentioned. However, you will be given earplugs, or you can wear headphones and listen to music or watch videos like Juliette did.  

A typical course of TMS treatment consists of five treatments per week for about six to eight weeks. Juliette mentioned that she underwent 36 TMS therapy sessions, which fits into that timeframe. Another thing that Juliette mentioned is that she is planning on going back for booster treatments, which is also very common. In fact, one of the benefits of TMS is that the results are cumulative, which means that the more treatments you get, the better they work.  

If you’re interested in learning more about TMS therapy and how it could help you, check out our other blog posts on TMS  or contact us at Sereni ty Mental Health Centers! 

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*All information subject to change. Images may contain models. Individual results are not guaranteed and may vary.