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About Magnet Therapy for Depression

If you are one of the millions of people living with depression, then you know how hard this disabling disease can be on your emotional and physical health. Depression not only affects your personal life, but it also affects your ability to hold a steady job and support yourself. Fortunately, there is a relatively new procedure called magnetic therapy that offers a different way to manage, and possibly eliminate, this disease.

  1. Theories/Speculation

    • Magnetic therapy for depression is based on the theory that every cell in the body is part of an electromagnetic field. When these fields are not aligned, problems in the body, such as depression, occur. Magnetic therapy alleviates depression by realigning the electromagnetic fields in the brain, which in turn eliminates the symptoms of depression.

    Types

    • Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, or RTMS, is a form of magnet therapy that uses a hand-held device to stimulate specific areas of the brain believed to be causing the depressive episode in the person. The RTMS practitioner holds the magnetic device close to the defective cranial area to accelerate mood regulation in the patient. Another magnetic therapy, TMS, or Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, uses a coiled head device to transfer the electrical energy into the patient's brain. Both of these techniques are performed on fully awake, non-medicated individuals.

    Benefits

    • One of the most alluring benefits of magnetic therapy for depression is its preciseness. Magnetic therapy practitioners are able to target and treat very specific brain areas that are directly causing the depression, unlike antidepressants, which affect the whole body. Magnetic therapy is the least invasive depression brain stimulation and does not require electrode implants or surgery.

    Potential

    • With approximately 20 million people in the United States suffering from depression, magnetic therapy offers a non-chemical alternative to pharmaceutical and herbal depression treatments, which many depressed people have grown resistant to. Magnetic therapy's localized treatment also extends the possibility of eliminating the root cause of the patient's depression and not just the symptoms of the disease.

    Considerations

    • There are some common side effects to magnetic therapy for depression. Some of the side effects are lightheadedness, headache, scalp discomfort at stimulation site, facial muscle tingling, twitching and spasms and noise discomfort. In rare cases, hearing problems, mania and seizures have been reported.

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