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Cost (and availability/wait time for nations with public healthcare) are a concern. I know several people who received conventional TMS for 30 minutes a day fo

by causi 5y ago

Cost (and availability/wait time for nations with public healthcare) are a concern. I know several people who received conventional TMS for 30 minutes a day for six weeks. That cost them, with insurance, about $1500. It was effective for an average of six months. This treatment is an order of magnitude more time spent in the machine, even if over a shorter period. What will it cost? Will it be accessible to those who need it?

geysersam 5y ago
Depression has an enormous economic impact. Fatigue and pain (depression related symptoms) are some of the most common reasons people can't work in the wealthier part of the world. If the treatment costs $4000 dollars yearly and makes the difference between debilitating depression and functioning taxpayer that is self financing for the public healthcare. Not to mention the personal suffering.
- photochemsyn 5y ago
  Psychedelic mushrooms are far less expensive and have a similarly effective result in similarly sized trials: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/psychedelic-treatment-with-psilocybin-relieves-major-depression-study-shows https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/...
- eru 5y ago
  > If the treatment costs $4000 dollars yearly and makes the difference between debilitating depression and functioning taxpayer that is self financing for the public healthcare. That's a good bargain for people who pay out of pocket as well.
tgv 5y ago
$1500 is cheap. I know people who’ve been receiving therapy 1 hr/wk plus medication for years. Even here, where the medical costs are a lot lower than in the US, that’s probably €5000/yr, and that excludes the indirect costs of depression.
- causi 5y ago
  70% of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings.
raindeer2 5y ago
There are cheaper and easier to use brain stimulation treatments for depression than TMS. tDCS, that uses current instead of magnetic fields, might not be exactly as effective as TMS but is much more accessible and can be used at home. It stimulates the same area of the brain as TMS (DLPFC). Here is a great comparison of noninvasive brain stimulation techniques for depression treatment: https://www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.l1079 https://www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.l1079 A company that offers tDCS as a home treatment for depression can be found here: https://flowneuroscience.com/ https://flowneuroscience.com/

by causi 5y ago

geysersam 5y ago

Depression has an enormous economic impact. Fatigue and pain (depression related symptoms) are some of the most common reasons people can't work in the wealthier part of the world. If the treatment costs $4000 dollars yearly and makes the difference between debilitating depression and functioning taxpayer that is self financing for the public healthcare. Not to mention the personal suffering.

photochemsyn 5y ago
Psychedelic mushrooms are far less expensive and have a similarly effective result in similarly sized trials: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/psychedelic-treatment-with-psilocybin-relieves-major-depression-study-shows https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/...
eru 5y ago
> If the treatment costs $4000 dollars yearly and makes the difference between debilitating depression and functioning taxpayer that is self financing for the public healthcare. That's a good bargain for people who pay out of pocket as well.

tgv 5y ago

$1500 is cheap. I know people who’ve been receiving therapy 1 hr/wk plus medication for years. Even here, where the medical costs are a lot lower than in the US, that’s probably €5000/yr, and that excludes the indirect costs of depression.

causi 5y ago
70% of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings.

raindeer2 5y ago

There are cheaper and easier to use brain stimulation treatments for depression than TMS. tDCS, that uses current instead of magnetic fields, might not be exactly as effective as TMS but is much more accessible and can be used at home. It stimulates the same area of the brain as TMS (DLPFC). Here is a great comparison of noninvasive brain stimulation techniques for depression treatment: https://www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.l1079 https://www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.l1079 A company that offers tDCS as a home treatment for depression can be found here: https://flowneuroscience.com/ https://flowneuroscience.com/