Transcranial magnetic stimulation - known as TMS - now at Waratah and Toronto for depression treatment

The treatment, known as TMS [transcranial magnetic stimulation], can also be used for post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] and anxiety.

Psychiatrist Ted Cassidy, chief medical officer of TMS Clinics Australia, said the treatment was now available at ProCare at Waratah. It's also available at Toronto Specialist Medical Centre.

Dr Cassidy said TMS was typically offered to people who "have not responded to their first two antidepressants".

"With TMS, about 70 per cent of people get a substantial improvement within four to six weeks."

A 60-year-old Lake Macquarie woman told the Newcastle Herald she was undergoing the treatment for depression and PTSD.

She was unable to use antidepressants because of liver problems.

"My psychiatrist said give it a go. I was a bit hesitant, but it works," she said.

"It feels like rubber bands flicking on your head - you get used to it."

The treatment involves a one-hour session five days a week for six weeks.

"If they have a good response, some people do a maintenance treatment. That's usually one treatment a week or fortnight for six or 12 months," Dr Cassidy said.

He said the practicalities of prescribing TMS was "much like an antidepressant".

"If you give someone an antidepressant and they get well, then you keep them on the tablet for six to 12 months. Then you gradually withdraw the tablet," he said.

He said the biggest problem with antidepressants was they're "all very similar".

"There's about 30 different antidepressants. They all tend to increase serotonin.

"While that's good for 70 per cent of people, there's about 30 per cent that don't respond or stop responding.

"You have people who are chronically unwell because the drugs don't work. They might be in and out of hospital for years."

These people take up a lot of the time of GPs, psychologists and psychiatrists.

"It means all the resources that could otherwise be used for other areas of mental health get soaked up in this holding pattern," he said.

TMS is listed as a treatment in the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists clinical practice guidelines.

"In the US, and throughout Asia, there's a massive network of TMS. One hospital in China does 60,000 treatments a year of TMS. It's absolutely a mainstream treatment," Dr Cassidy said.

The treatment creates an intense magnetic field that reaches two to three centimetres beneath the skull, activating the positive mood circuit that goes into the limbic system.

"You literally place the electromagnetic coil on the left or right hand side of the forehead.

"It creates an electrical current and that delivers a positive activation to the mood centre in the brain.

"Think of mood pathways in the brain as like a circuit. When it becomes under-active, when it's no longer firing, then you become depressed. If there's activation in that circuit, you're not depressed."

Side effects associated with TMS are "usually mild, transient and can be easily managed". The most common side effect is headache.

Numerous police and military veterans have undergone TMS through the Department of Veterans' Affairs and workers' compensation.

Dr Cassidy said about 25 health funds cover the treatment.

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