How to Choose a TMS Therapist

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We at the TMS Wiki aren't experts on choosing a therapist (we aren't experts on anything other than our own experience, really!), so we thought that we would start a page about how to choose a therapist and see what the community would add. If you know of a helpful resource, please add it here.

Other Tips and advice

• From Selfhelp Magazine
• Editor ForestForTreesTMS adds, "A friend of mine, who is a psychotherapist, mentioned that research has shown the specific methodology employed by the therapist to be less important than how well clients connect and relate to that therapist."
• Information about therapist degrees and what they mean can be found at PsychCentral and at Psychology Today.

About therapy over the phone

An August 2004 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association randomly assigned 563 depressed people who had started taking antidepressant medication to receive eight sessions of structured behavioral therapy by telephone, periodic phone calls reminding them to continue taking their medication, or the usual care, involving medication but no therapy. In the 30- to 40-minute phone sessions, therapists and patients discussed ways to reverse negative thoughts, increase pleasant activities, and handle daily affairs. In general, behavioral therapy isn't seen to be the best approach for TMS, but the study can still be helpful in understanding whether therapy works over the phone.

After six months, 80 percent of the phone-therapy group reported that their depression was “much” or “very much” improved compared with 66 percent of the reminder group and 55 percent of the usual-care group. Still, researchers say in-person therapy is generally preferable when possible.

See below for a discussion about checking on licensure.

This page is a place to exchange ideas and is just a work in progress. Please add information to help make it better! To begin, click on the "Edit" tab in the top right portion of the screen. As usual, if you have any questions, feel free to email forest for trees at ymail dot com.

DISCLAIMER: The TMS Wiki is for informational and support purposes only and does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment recommendations. See Full Disclaimer.