Member-only story
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Teenage Depression
Robust results in a large outcome study gains an FDA indication for depression.
Because of rising rates of anxiety, depression and other mental health concerns among adolescents, TMS has been used off-label for many years to treat depression among teenagers. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report: 2013–2023 [1] highlights the scope of the problem, with 40 percent of high school students reporting persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, 20 percent seriously contemplating suicide, and close to 10 percent having made at least one suicide attempt. While trends show incremental improvement, the problem remains substantially and dangerously underaddressed.
Recently, the FDA approved an indication for using TMS for adolescents 15 years and up, using the NeuroStar TMS Therapy system (Neuronetics, Inc.), paving the way for broader applications. The study that led the FDA to approve the use of TMS for teenagers is discussed in more detail below, following an overview of what TMS is and how it works.
