TMS was adapted from MRI imaging technology, and development began as far back as 1985. For the first time in the history of psychiatry, we have a tool that can actually make changes within targeted areas of the brain without any invasive procedures, injections, or surgeries.

Simple magnetic pulses delivered to the surface of the brain activate the parts of the brain associated with depression or anxiety. TMS is completely safe, non-invasive, doesn't involve radiation, and provides superior benefits to antidepressant medications - without the side effects associated with them.

TMS is conducted right in the office while clients are awake and alert. No sedation is required, and clients can return to normal activities immediately after treatment.

Sessions can be as short as 3 minutes and as long as 25 minutes depending on a variety of factors. Patients who are using insurance are limited to one session a day and a maximum of 5 a week. 36 sessions of TMS then will take about 7.5 weeks to complete.

Patients who are self-paying for treatment are not limited by these factors and can do up to 5 sessions a day (STANDFORD UNIVESITY PUBLISHED RESEARCH SHOWED SAME SAFETY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF DOING 10 SESSIONS A DAY) .

The use of the TMS has grown as research continues to prove its safety and efficacy. Tens of thousands of clients have received treatment without any negative side effects. Since December 2010, the American Psychiatric Association has designated TMS as the go-to treatment when clients have failed 1- 4 antidepressant medications, using the “Best Practices of Depression Treatment” guidelines.

Although TMS has been in use in Europe and Canada since 1994, the FDA finally cleared it for use in the United States in 2008, following a massive 100-site study that showed it to be a safe and effective method of treatment.

Most insurance plans cover TMS treatment for patients over 18 years old who suffer from depression and who haven't improved with antidepressant medications or are unable to tolerate medications.  You will find a full explanation of insurance coverage and requirements in the Insurance and Costs section.

qEEG Driven Treatments

TMS outcomes can be improved using qEEG brain mapping to customize the treatment to the patient's brain pattern. Brain Wellness Center has been a pioneer in the field of qEEG brain mapping. 

We have been teaching qEEG brain mapping to doctors and clinicians around the world and have processed tens of thousands of qEEG brain maps over the past 30 years for other doctors and clinics all around the world in addition to our own. 

qEEG Brain mapping is a noninvasive technique using 21 channels of EEG recording to identify brain networks and functional issues.  qEEG brain mapping can assist in identifying depression, anxiety, ADHD, autism, brain injury, and memory issues, to name a few. Here is how qEEG works.

When the cells in the brain communicate with each other, they use electricity to do so.  EEG recording is a simple way of measuring electrical activity and connections in the brain.  Just like an EKG that simply measures the heartbeat, EEG does the same for brain activity.  It does not put anything back in your head or take anything out of your head.  We use a simple cap placed over the head and measure the cell activity.  The entire process takes approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour long.  Then our board-certified neurologist with 30+ years of experience is in this field, is able to process this data and compare it to other people's EEG who are in the database called normal.  This process can easily identify brain challenges compared to other people of the same age and gender.

q-MRT

We are proud to offer an advanced and sophisticated TMS treatment called q-MRT, which utilizes functional qEEG to target and deliver Magnetic Resonance Treatment. Unlike traditional TMS treatments that use static EEG data, q-MRT uses data derived from the patient's functional EEG, which is a dynamic representation of brain function over time. This approach is comparable to the difference between a static photo and a video clip, as it provides a more comprehensive and detailed understanding of the patient's brain function.

Our team of experts utilizes the latest techniques and technologies to provide our patients with the highest quality care possible. Our q-MRT treatment is a significant advancement in TMS therapy and can help patients achieve their treatment goals more effectively and efficiently.

MeRT Fake or fraud? 

The following is our opinion and is provided for informational and editorial purposes. Readers are advised to do their own investigation and verify all claims. WaveNeuroscoince claims Mert to be their service mark.

In our opinion, MeRT (Magnetic Resonance Therapy) is a great use of technology to deliver targeted TMS treatments. Mert is an advanced form of customizing TMS using data from the patient's EEG (same as what we do and has been done by others since 2010). First, a patient's  EEG  is recorded and analyzed to measure brain performance ( we at Brain Wellness Center call this process qEEG Brain Mapping and have been doing it for almost 30 years). This information is then used to personalize treatment parameters for TMS. Using this targeted treatment rather than the standard, one treatment fits all patients mentality, MeRT should produce improved results compared to TMS without customization. 

MeRT is TMS, and claiming it is anything other than patient-targeted TMS treatment might be considered by some people as false and deceptive marketing. Remember all TMS comes from MRI technology. What is MRI short for? Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). TMS uses Magnetic resonance waves just as an MRI machine does, except TMS is a small device designed to deliver magnetic waves or, in medical terminology,  Magnetic resonance Therapy. So all TMS is Magnetic Resonance Therapy. 

Our clinics, along with many other TMS practitioners and research facilities around the world, have been using qEEG-guided TMS (EKG used for monitoring and localization) for over a decade or more with excellent results. It has not been called MerRT by anyone other than Wave Neuroscience which has a financial interest in advancing the belief that Mert is something different than TMS.

We do not do Mert and have never claimed to do Mert. We have been doing qEEG-guided TMS for years. Our technology can be called q-MRT.

There are no Mert equipment makers and no FDA clearance for a treatment called MeRT. All forms of TMS, such as rTMS, deep TMS, and iTMS, are TMS therapy. To make believe that this technique is unique to franchises or licenses of a company or their affiliates might be construed by some as deceptive marketing practices designed to deceive patients potentially.

If you go hunting and you use a scope, it might improve your accuracy, call it whatever you like, but you are still using a gun and shooting a bullet.

Where does MeRT come in? Wave Neuroscience registered the Service Mark "MeRT" in 2016 and is licensing the name to doctors and clinics who pay a fee for this use and for their monthly EEG processing. This permits only those clinics to say they are doing MeRT treatment, just like  McDonald claims copyright to Big Mac and only McDonald's franchisees sell Big Mac. Well, we do q-MRT.

We are proud to offer an advanced and sophisticated TMS treatment called q-MRT, which utilizes functional qEEG to target and deliver Magnetic Resonance Treatment. Unlike traditional TMS treatments that use static EEG data, q-MRT uses data derived from the patient's functional EEG, which is a dynamic representation of brain function over time. This approach is comparable to the difference between a static photo and a video clip, as it provides a more comprehensive and detailed understanding of the patient's brain function.

Our team of experts utilizes the latest techniques and technologies to provide our patients with the highest quality care possible. Our q-MRT treatment is a significant advancement in TMS therapy and can help patients achieve their treatment goals more effectively and efficiently.

What is MeRT exactly?

MeRT stands for Magnetic e-Resonance Therapy, according to the Trademark holder. What is Magnetic Resonance Therapy? It is TMS by another name. TMS Therapy uses the same type and strength of magnetic fields as MRIs (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), which have been used in tens of millions of patients around the world. TMS comes from MRI technology. So every TMS treatment delivers Magnetic Resonance. First, an  EEG is recorded and analyzed to measure brain performance ( we at Brain Wellness Center call this process qEEG Brain Mapping or functional EEG). This information is then used to personalize treatment parameters for TMS. Why call TMS Magnetic Resonance Therapy since it is the same thing? Good question. Maybe Money? By pretending they offer something different and unique, which is not, they decive innocent parts to pay thousands of dollars for a treatment that might be available at a much lower cost by hundreds of qualified TMS practitioners.

In order to understand MeRT, one needs to understand what a Trademark (Service Mark) is.

Suppose I go to Costco and buy some frozen burger patties and burger buns. I cook them, add some sauce, ketchup, pickles, etc. My kids love it and start calling it "Big Daddy's Burger". If I am McDonald's, I can call it Big Mac. And because I don't want anyone else calling their hamburgers Big Mac, I get the name Big Mac trademark. So Burger King can not call their hamburgers Big Mac, so they trademark theirs as Whopper.

Can anyone get a Trademark? Absolutely. Here are the steps:

1- Search to make sure the name is available

2- Complete the application form

3- Pay a filing fee of about $235.00

There is NO research needed and no proof of anything. I can call our qEEG-Brain Map (quantitative analysis of neurology and brain function abilities) driven TMS,  qEEGTMS, and start advertising that I am the only one who has the right to the use of qEEGTMS, which is true. However, I can not make the outlandish claim that qEEGTMS is a unique treatment and is different than TMS, and therefore "I AM THE ONLY FACILITY PRIVILAED TO THIS TECHNOLOGY'.

So now, if you search Big Mac, you see: "The Big Mac is a hamburger sold by the fast-food restaurant chain McDonald's."  If you search Whopper, you see "The Whopper is the signature hamburger by the fast-food restaurant chain Burger King."

The key here is it is a hamburger. It does not mean it is the only way to make a hamburger, it tastes better than other hamburgers and is more nutritious than other hamburgers. It is a hamburger. This concept is pretty straightforward. Everybody understands that Big Mac and Whopper are hamburgers. 

False and Deceptive Advertising

When it comes to understanding complex medical/mental health treatments, it is much harder to separate the sizzle from science for an average consumer. Patients can potentially be misled by false and deceptive marketing practices claiming that particular fancy letters thrown together to make an acronym is a new treatment, a breakthrough technology, a treatment not available anywhere else, or that it is somehow superior to other services offered by hundreds of other providers of similar services.

McDonald's cannot claim you can not get hamburgers anywhere else because, somehow, Big Mac is a scientific breakthrough. Nor can United claim their planes will fly you to the moon. If they made such outlandish claims in their advertising, they would find themselves faced with consumer fraud charges quickly. 

Many of the research links on various MeRT providers' websites evidencing the efficacy of MeRT is a  link to research by Stanford and Harvard using TMS, not MeRT.

Using qEEG brain mapping that has been properly processed by a competent and board-certified neurologist experienced in qEEG processing is something that we have been doing for many years. Targeting the TMS treatment to the patient's EEG patterns has helped us improve our successful TMS outcomes. We never have claimed it to be MeRT, because we believe MeRT is deceptive in describing what we do.

Brain Treatment Centers website try to suggest they are offering something other than TMS. However, in their own fillings posted on  clinicatrials.gov, they describe their treatment:

"Magnetic EEG guided Resonant Treatment (MeRT) is a form of individualized TMS based on a member's EEG/ECG input. ………….  it is likely that MeRT (namely TMS) will be."

A Big Mac is a hamburger, a Whopper is a Hambergure, and Mert is TMS by another name. Why be deceptive and use big words like Magnetic e-Resonance Therapy to pretend it is something other than TMS? The quality of the work has to speak for itself and does not need to resort to deceptive marketing.

In conclusion, targeted and qEEG-directed TMS is excellent and should be seriously considered over non-targeted, one size fits all TMS. Brain Wellness Center and many more TMS providers all around the world have been using qEEG guided TMS treatments for years..

Of course, when it comes to marketing, could you charge a bunch of doctors $50,000 to sign-up and have them pay $10,000  a month if you called it TMS? Probably not.

That is our view and opinion. If Wave Technology has a different position and disagrees with it, we will consider altering or modifying our editorial.

If you excuse me now, I have to use a Molecule vaporizer electromagnetic pulse generator to manipulate and alter the temperature in 236.588 ML of liquid 1,3,7 trimethlanithine. Or I could say, going to heat up my cup of coffee in the microwave! 

Mert is a service mark ( nothing more not ) registered to Wave Neuroscience, Inc.

Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy (SAINT)

In a double-blind controlled study, high doses of magnetic brain stimulation, given on an accelerated timeline and individually targeted, caused remission in 79% of trial participants with severe depression.

The treatment, known as Stanford accelerated intelligent neuromodulation therapy (SAINT) or Stanford neuromodulation therapy, is an intensive form of transcranial magnetic stimulation. 

In the study, remission typically occurred within days and lasted months. The only side effects were temporary fatigue and headaches.

Fifty iTBS sessions (1,800 pulses per session, 50-minute intersession interval) were delivered as 10 daily sessions over 5 consecutive days at 90% resting motor threshold (adjusted for cortical depth). Neuropsychological testing was conducted before and after SAINT.

After five days of treatment, 78.6% of the participants in the treatment group were no longer depressed.