With depression being one of the most widespread mental illnesses, and current therapies hailing limited success, doctors and researchers everywhere have struggled to find a definitive solution. However, a Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) protocol offers promise.
As it happens, Kate Tolo, the co-founder of wellness startup Blueprint with Bryan Johnson, has been battling depression for about four years and didn’t want to take antidepressants (let’s face it, they don’t work on everyone anyway, and finding the right one for you is a painfully complex and long process).
Having heard of a groundbreaking new five-day TMS protocol called SAINT, which isn’t invasive, doesn’t involve pills, and has a 79% success rate, Tolo decided to give it a shot, recording her (rather quick) journey, which Johnson shared on his YouTube channel on March 18.
As she explained, “TMS uses magnets to activate parts of the brain linked to depression.” First, she needed a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to identify the exact areas of her brain to be targeted during treatment, and then the $30k depression treatment could start.
According to a neurologist who commented on the video, TMS works by “blasting magnetic pulses into your brain, targeting spots like the prefrontal cortex to tweak activity,” adding that it may not be surgery, but it’s nonetheless a serious intervention as the brain’s wiring isn’t a light switch.”
So… has the $30k depression treatment worked?
Typically, as Tolo pointed out, this kind of therapy takes months to complete, but the SAINT protocol is a sped-up intense version – five days, 8 AM to 6 PM, every hour, a ten-minute TMS session followed by a 50-minute break. Describing the process, she said that:
“It was subtle at first like a weight I’d been carrying for years was finally lifting. (…) I’ve felt amazing – night and day difference. The feeling of depression having gone away is like, ‘life is okay, I didn’t find myself at the end of the day wanting to stay up late, eat sh**ty food, self-destruct in some way. My HRV [heart rate variability] has been steady this entire time since treatment.”
That said, it wasn’t a straight line, as she admitted she’d regressed a couple of times, which made her question the success of the therapy. However, things noticeably improved four weeks after the treatment. Subjectively, Tolo believes the treatment has worked for her, although she couldn’t be certain at first.
But communicating with her friends and family, who have definitely noticed the difference in her general demeanor, convinced her. Nonetheless, it’s important to note that, just because this treatment seems to have worked for Tolo, there is still that 21% failure rate to keep in mind.
For these cases, perhaps a different approach would work, or combining the treatment with pharmaceuticals (or alternative drug methods), talk therapy, or behavior therapy – or all of these.
As for the SAINT protocol itself, the $30,000 price threshold makes it unavailable to most people and is only covered by Medicare in hospital settings, but Kaizen Brain Center’s Dr. Mohammed Ahmed believes it might be accessible in the future.
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