TMS Health Solutions (MHS) announced that it will be changing the name of its therapy centers in El Dorado Hills and Sacramento to Mindful Health Solutions. The purpose of the name change is to better reflect the company’s focus on Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) therapy, although it also offers other alternative treatments for people suffering from depression. MHS is also adding more centers in the United States, especially California.
Overview
Depression is a serious mental illness that affects about 350 million people, with 16.1 million of them in the U.S. Medication and psychotherapy are ineffective for many peoples suffering from depression, including and estimated four million who don’t benefit from standard antidepressants. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved TMS therapy for the treatment of depression. About half of all patients who undergo this revolutionary therapy experience significant improvement in their symptoms, and one-third become completely free of the symptoms of depression.
TMS therapy is non-invasive and doesn’t involve the use of any drugs. Physicians can provide the therapy in their office, which takes about 45 minutes. This therapy involves the use of a magnetic field that’s about as strong as those used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This field stimulates the frontal lobes of the brain, which is where the major symptoms of major depression originate. TMS is thus able to alleviate these symptoms painlessly without any side effects. Physicians typically recommend TMS for patients who fail to respond to antidepressants.
Dr. Lanocha and Dr. Richard Bermudes are both leading experts in TMS who perform this therapy at Mindful Health Solutions. Dr. Lanocha is a neuropsychiatrist who specializes in treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and is the director of TMS education at Mindful Health Solutions. He has over 25 years of experience in brain stimulation therapy and neuromodulation. Dr. Lanocha says, “TMS therapy acts very locally and very precisely on a single targeted brain region.” In comparison, medication circulates throughout the body and affects every system in the body. As a result, they cause adverse side effects.
Dr. Bermudes is the first psychiatrist to treat depression with TMS in the Sacramento region. He is also the medical director at Mindful Health Solutions and president of the Clinical TMS Society. Dr. Bermudes says that the company is redirecting its focus from traditional psychiatric treatments to TMS therapy because it’s a new frontier in alternative treatments for depression. He adds, “It’s exciting to see the positive results of this drug-free, non-invasive treatment for patients who previously had recurring and treatment-resistant depression, many of them for decades.”
TMS
TMS, also known as repetitive TMS (rTMS), directs a variable magnetic field towards a specific part of the brain, which generates an electrical current through a process known as electromagnetic induction. The device that performs TMS therapy consists of an electric pulse generator, or stimulator, connected to a magnetic coil. The technician attaches the magnetic coil to the scalp, and the stimulator generates an alternating electric current that the coil uses to induce a magnetic field. This field then induces another electrical current in the brain. TMS shows therapeutic potential for a variety of conditions affecting the central nervous system, including clinical depression.
History
Dr. Bermudes founded MHS in 2007 to develop a group psychiatric practice that provides patient-centric care. He wanted his practice to focus on academic research by continually incorporating new treatment methods while also educating the community. Dr. Bermudes’ vision has allowed him to completely redesign the standard model for group psychiatric practice. Drs. Bermudes’ and Lanocha have also written a book that describes the integration of TMS therapy into psychiatric practice, which is entitled “Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: Clinical Applications for Psychiatric Practices.” The American Psychiatric Association published this book in 2018.
Locations
Mindful Health Solutions’ headquarters are in San Francisco, and it also has a clinic on the campus of University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). The practice also has clinics in the following locations to ensure a psychiatrist near me in California:
- Burlingame
- El Dorado Hills
- Elk Grove
- Fairfield
- Newport Beach
- Oakland
- Roseville
- Sacramento
- San Rafael
- Stockton
- Walnut Creek
Drs. Bermudes’ and Lanocha also plan to open additional offices in California over the next few years. In addition, Mindful Health Solutions offers telepsychiatry services.
Services
Mindful Health Solutions offers a comprehensive set of psychiatry services to its patients, including medication management. It specializes in caring for the 40 percent of people who suffer from clinical depression that doesn’t respond to medication and other conventional therapies. TMS Health Solutions is also California’s leading provider of TMS. This practice is an insurance-based practice whose services are covered by most major carriers, including Anthem, Blue Shield of California, Cigna, Optum and United Healthcare. Mindful Health Solutions also works with patients to obtain financial assistance in cases where insurance coverage for TMS isn’t approved or is unavailable.
The practice partners with a patient’s primary care provider, psychiatrist or therapist to help ensure the best treatment outcome. It also works with the patient and referring clinician to develop a treatment plan by gathering medical records and other information to ensure the expectations for the treatment align with the expected outcome. Furthermore, TMS Health Solution checks in with the patient as needed and provides the referring clinician with feedback on the patient’s progress.