Video: Magnet therapy treats depression

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Georgia St. Aubyn can smile now, but for 15 years she battled depression.

"Antidepressants were no longer working for me,” she said.

Dr. David Avery says that's not unusual.

"Approximately 20 per cent of individuals with a major depression do not respond well to antidepressant medications,” he said.

The next step used to be shock therapy, an extreme solution because the whole brain is affected, and it has major side effects.

Now, the FDA has just approved another option.

"We're stimulating the prefrontal cortex, the front part of the brain,” said Dr. Avery.

It's called transcranial magnetic stimulation, TMS. It zaps magnetic currents into the front part of the brain. Dr. Avery's assistant, Chandra demonstrates a mock session.

A real patient would get 20 days of treatments and hear a clicking sound each time, as the machine reactivates the front part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex which is under active in depressed people.

“If the emotions are not held in check by the prefrontal cortex, then there’s a sense of loss of control, being unable to concentrate, unable to have good, good energy, unable to sleep,” said Dr. Avery.

A patient would get 20 days of treatments and hear a clicking sound each time, as the machine reactivates the front part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex which is under active in depressed people.

Georgia saw a difference within a couple of weeks.

"This was definitely different than drugs. For me with the antidepressants, there was always something that was just not quite right,” she said.

Georgia says she still has her ups and downs, but feels more resilient now.

"Absolutely changed my life, there's no doubt I wouldn't be here, right now talking to if it didn't change my life,” she said.

TMS doesn't work for everyone and even for those who do benefit, one in five patents will need booster treatments. However, this is a welcome option for those who don't respond well to antidepressants, especially since TMS has  little to no side effects.

Because the FDA approval is so new, the treatment is not yet available locally.

However, it's still possible to get it for free by participating in one of two clinical trials; the first for depression, the other for fibromyalgia.

For both trials call 206-744-2436.