Community Health & Wellness

Kitsap County clinic reports results from using TMS therapy to treat depression

Posted on March 20th, 2025 By: Conor Wilson

Since opening last May, Kitsap Mental Health Services’ new TMS therapy clinic has provided relief to about two dozen patients experiencing severe depression that cannot be meaningfully treated through psychotherapy or medications.

The Bremerton-based mental health provider reports that the Neil S. Hirsch TMS Clinic provided treatment to 40 people over its first six months. About 62% of those patients have seen their depression symptoms cut in half. That includes 48% who went into remission, meaning they are effectively no longer depressed.

TMS – a non-invasive procedure that uses magnetic pulses to stimulate parts of the brain involved in depression – has been a federally approved treatment for depression for 15 years. Yet until KMHS opened a clinic on its Bremerton campus, the practice was seldom, if ever, used specifically for patients on Medicaid, the state-federal insurance for residents with low-incomes or disabilities.

Promising results

The results constitute a small sample size. But they are “pleasantly surprising” for Dr. James Hughes, KMHS chief medical officer and longtime TMS proponent. It was unclear how their clientele, who often face compounding medical and financial problems, would respond to TMS therapy.

Dr. James Hughes (left), chief medical officer at Kitsap Mental Health Services and longtime TMS proponent, says the early results of using the treatment are encouraging.

“The population we tend to see has severe cases and intense long-term socioeconomic influences. We weren’t sure how it was going to affect the results,” he said. “We’re happy to say that we’re seeing results that are very consistent with depression treatment in other groups.”

Research has found around 50% to 60% of people with depression who have tried and failed to receive benefit from medications experience a meaningful response to TMS, according to Harvard Health. About a third of those patients go into a full remission.

The TMS Clinic was brought to Kitsap Mental Health through a partnership with the Foundation for the Advancement of Clinical TMS (FACTMS), a nonprofit seeking to broaden access to the therapy. Funding to start the center was provided by the Neil S. Hirsch Foundation, the clinic’s namesake. The company Magstim also donated a Horizon Lite TMS machine.

What is TMS therapy?

During TMS therapy, a patient sits in a dentist-like chair. A coil against their scalp delivers magnetic pulses. Those pulses stimulate nerve cells in regions of the brain that typically have decreased activity when a patient has depression.

“TMS is a very simple idea,” Dr. Rebecca Allen, president of the Clinical TMS Society, who cares for patients with treatment-resistant depression, said last May. “[Y]ou put the coil on the person’s scalp such that the magnetic field goes down into the head and stimulates the brain.”

After an initial hour-long appointment, known as mapping, TMS patients receive daily treatments of about 3 minutes over a span of four to six weeks. The average treatment is 36 sessions.

The therapy does not provide a permanent fix, but patients can see improvement for many months. The average patient sees a year of benefits from the therapy. After that, patients can go back for a booster treatment.

Clinical depression

The effects of such a treatment can be life-altering, Hughes said. Depression is often used interchangeably with sadness, but major clinical depression can be immensely burdensome, resulting in an “inability for the brain to function in a way that gets basic needs of life done.”

Many of the patients who have received TMS and reported reduced symptoms of depression have gone to become employed, reestablish connections with family and deal with legal issues, Hughes said.

“These are very real, very tangible results that are helping people move forward,” he said.