Astral Codex Ten

TMS

3 min read

TMS

Article

TMS is a recurring concept in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 2 times across 2 issues between March 16, 2021 and May 25, 2021. The archive places it in contexts such as “How does this relate to TMS? Trans-cranial magnetic stimulation is a new-ish and exciting treatment for depression”; “Meta-analyses suggest TMS is effective”; “weak magnetic stimulation of TMS”. It most often appears alongside 2002 meta-analysis by Cochrane Collaboration, 5-HTP, 5-HTP.

Metadata

  • Category: Concepts
  • Mention count: 2
  • Issue count: 2
  • First seen: March 16, 2021
  • Last seen: May 25, 2021

Appears In

None.

Source Context

Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.

Sleep Is The Mate Of Death
March 16, 2021 · Original source
How does this relate to TMS? Trans-cranial magnetic stimulation is a new-ish and exciting treatment for depression. You fire powerful magnets at the brain, which provokes neurons into firing. There's some good evidence that this raises overall potentiation level, which I think is the same thing as synapse strength - and that it increases amount of sleep the next night, presumably to counterbalance this. But then how come, after being counterbalanced by sleep, it still has an effect?
Inline links: raises overall potentiation level
Peer Review Request: Depression
May 25, 2021 · Original source
There are two powerful depression therapies that are more physics than chemistry: trans-cranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
The short version: Depression has a combination of biological, psychological, and social causes. You can address the social causes by changing your life circumstances (and research suggests people underestimate the potential benefits of making major life changes). You can address the psychological causes with therapy; possible therapies are diverse and complicated but I especially recommend “behavioral activation” therapy (where you try to keep a schedule and also do new, interesting things) and David Burns’ book Feeling Good. You can address the biological causes with a combination of lifestyle changes, medications, and supplements. Consider exercising more and adapting a modified Mediterranean diet. Consider taking antidepressants like escitalopram and bupropion, and supplements like l-methylfolate. Other non-chemical biological options include light therapy (safe and easy), transcranial magnetic stimulation (more complicated), and electroconvulsive therapy (difficult but extremely effective last-ditch solution). If something treats your depression, continue it for some length of time depending on the type of intervention, then consider withdrawing it to see if you can maintain your mood without it.
If lifestyle changes, medication, and psychotherapy don’t work, there are some more-involved but very powerful strategies for dealing with treatment-resistant depression, including wake therapy, ketamine, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and electroconvulsive therapy.