A new option for people with treatment-resistant depression and anxiety will be available on the Big Island starting Monday. It’s called transcranial magnetic stimulation, a noninvasive method developed in the 1980s and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2008.
Kipuka O Ke Ola, the Native Hawaiian rural health clinic in Waimea, recently acquired a TMS machine, making it the first and only one on the island to date.
Dr. Michael Farnsworth, a psychiatrist who works at the clinic three days a week, said he’ll start offering TMS therapy to certain patients this week.
“The magnetic field stimulates the neurons in the prefrontal cortex which are connected to the limbic system in the interior of your brain. That is the mood center,” he said.
Patients typically receive 18-minute sessions of TMS five days a week for six weeks. They stay awake the entire time and do not require any sedation. They can typically return to work or school or go about their daily activities with no down time.
The treatment will help an entirely new class of patients with depression who don’t respond to medications or talk therapy, Farnsworth said.
“It’s a fantastic treatment and I wish it was more readily accessible to people,” said Dr. Doreen Fukushima, a Honolulu-based psychiatrist who offers TMS at her clinic, Hoola Pono.
Read more at CivilBeat.org.
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