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A new non-drug treatment is sending many people with depression into remission.

You know, we're at a place now with these technologies where we can actually really get people

out of it and they can resume a normal life.

It's Tuesday, October 8th and you're listening to Science Friday.

I'm Cyfry producer Deep Peter Schmidt. Depression is the leading cause of disability

worldwide and obviously it is very difficult to treat. But there's a relatively new

technique that seems to have a significant positive impact on

people with treatment resistant depression, even sending many into remission.

It's called transcranial magnetic stimulation or TMS and it uses magnets to stimulate areas of the brain that play a role in depression.

A team at Stinford developed a version of TMS that received FDA clearance in 2022 and as of this year it's covered by Medicare.

So how does this approach work?

And could this change the way we treat depression and other mental illnesses?

Here's our Florida with more.

Here to tell us more is Dr Nolan Williams,

Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

at Stanford University.

He's also the director of the Stanford

Brain Stimulation Lab where this technique was developed.

And a heads up, we will be discussing suicidal ideation

in this conversation.

Dr Williams, welcome to Science Friday.

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