There is a breakthrough treatment for depression that’s non invasive and doesn’t require any medication.

TMS or trans cranial magnetic stimulation is showing great promise, so much so that the one-time unaffordable treatment is now covered by major insurance companies.

“What that means is we don’t have to put medications in your body, and the problem with the medications is people are often sensitive or often have adverse reactions to them.” said Dr. Dr. George Northrup, a Tampa physician and psychiatrist.

TMS uses a pain free magnetic field to reach the part of the brain that controls a patients mood and depression.

Dr. Northrup says he’s seeing great hope for military members undergoing TMS.

“One of the nice things is Tricare the military insurance has the lowest barrier to entry  and I feel like this is something that a lot of the military people a) don’t talk about and b) don’t seek treatment because they don’t know it exist and it’s easy for them to get to.  I’ve treated so many military members and their families and they’ve gotten so much better so that’s been rewarding especially with that population.” said Northrup

The treatments only take about 20 minutes and don’t require talk therapy.  Dr. Northrup says patients report feeling better for up to a year after going through the therapy, and it can be repeated if needed.