If you’re considering Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) therapy for depression, you might have concerns about how this treatment could affect who you are. It’s natural to wonder: can TMS change your personality? The short answer is no, TMS therapy doesn’t alter your core personality traits. Instead, it helps restore your brain’s natural functioning, allowing the real you to emerge from beneath the weight of depression.
TMS therapy uses magnetic pulses to stimulate areas of the brain associated with mood regulation. Specifically, it targets the prefrontal cortex, where nerve cells often become sluggish or “frozen” in people experiencing depression. By activating these neural networks, TMS helps normalize brain chemistry and function.
The treatment is non-invasive, requires no medication, and has been FDA-cleared since 2008. TMS has also been FDA-cleared for adolescents too. During sessions, which last about 20 minutes, you remain awake and alert. Most people complete treatment over six weeks with daily sessions, and many notice improvements in their depression symptoms throughout this period.
To understand why TMS doesn’t change your personality, it’s important to recognize the difference between who you are and the symptoms of depression that mask your true self.
Depression affects how you think, feel, and behave. It can make you withdraw from activities you once enjoyed, feel persistently sad or empty, struggle with decision-making, and lose interest in social connections. These symptoms aren’t reflections of your personality—they’re manifestations of a medical condition affecting your brain chemistry.
Your personality encompasses your core traits: your values, sense of humor, creativity, preferences, and the fundamental characteristics that make you unique. Depression doesn’t change these aspects of who you are; it simply makes them harder to access and express.
TMS therapy works by targeting the specific brain regions responsible for mood regulation. When these areas aren’t functioning properly, depression symptoms emerge. The magnetic stimulation helps “wake up” these sluggish neural pathways, allowing them to work as they should.
Think of it this way: depression is like a fog that settles over your true self. TMS helps lift that fog by addressing the underlying neurological issues. As the treatment progresses and your brain chemistry normalizes, you’re not becoming a different person—you’re rediscovering the person you’ve always been.
Patients who complete TMS therapy often describe feeling like themselves again. They report:
These aren’t personality changes—they’re the return of your natural capabilities that depression had suppressed. Many patients describe it as “coming back to life” or “finding myself again.”
Research demonstrates that TMS therapy produces measurable changes in brain activity patterns. Brain imaging studies show that before TMS, certain areas of the brain in depressed patients exhibit reduced activity. After treatment, these same areas show normalized function.
These changes are targeted and specific to the regions involved in mood regulation. TMS doesn’t randomly alter brain function throughout your entire brain. It specifically addresses the neural networks that have become dysregulated due to depression.
About 75% of TMS patients experience at least a 50% improvement in depression symptoms, and these improvements can last for months or even years after treatment. The consistency and duration of these results support the idea that TMS is correcting underlying dysfunction rather than artificially creating a new personality.
At Advantage TMS, we encourage pairing TMS therapy with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and support for lifestyle modifications. This approach recognizes that while TMS addresses the neurological aspects of depression, you also benefit from learning new thought patterns and healthy habits.
When your brain chemistry normalizes through TMS, therapy becomes more effective. The neural networks that were previously sluggish are now more responsive, allowing you to better integrate positive changes into your life. This isn’t about becoming someone new—it’s about having the mental clarity and energy to work on personal growth.
We offer free group therapy sessions during and after treatment, along with support for nutrition, mindfulness, and movement. These elements complement the neurological changes TMS creates, helping you build a sustainable path to mental wellness.
Your fundamental personality traits remain intact throughout and after TMS therapy. You’ll still have the same:
What changes is your capacity to fully express these aspects of yourself. Depression can make you feel disconnected from your own life, but TMS helps restore that connection without altering who you fundamentally are.
Some people worry that treating their depression might make them feel different in unsettling ways. It’s worth noting that TMS has minimal side effects compared to medication. You won’t experience the cognitive fog, emotional blunting, or other personality-affecting side effects that some antidepressants can cause.
The most common side effects of TMS are mild scalp discomfort or headache during treatment sessions, which typically decrease after the first week. TMS doesn’t cause memory loss, cognitive impairment, or the emotional numbness that concerns many people about depression treatment.
If depression has been holding you back from being the person you want to be, TMS therapy offers a path forward. Rather than changing your personality, it removes the barriers that depression has created, allowing your authentic self to shine through.
At Advantage TMS, we’ve helped hundreds of people over the past nine years reclaim their lives from depression. We’re open from 8 AM to 8 PM Monday through Thursday and 8 AM to 4 PM on Friday and Saturday, making it easy to fit treatment into your schedule. We offer same-day free consultations and can typically start treatment within 5-7 days of your initial visit.
Contact us today to schedule a free consultation and learn more about how TMS therapy can help you return to being yourself—without changing who you are at your core.
Siebner, H. R., Hartwigsen, G., Kassuba, T., & Rothwell, J. C. (2009). How does transcranial magnetic stimulation modify neuronal activity in the brain? Implications for studies of cognition. Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior, 45(9), 1035–1042. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2009.02.007
Rizvi, S., & Khan, A. M. (2019). Use of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Depression. Cureus, 11(5), e4736. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.4736
Our office is closed Wednesday, October 9 and Thursday, October 10, 2024, due to the storm. If you have any questions or urgent requests, please email us at info@advantagementalhealth.com.
Please fill out the form if you have a patient interested in learning more about TMS treatment. We appreciate the referral and partnership.
Next Steps:
• Our TMS Coordinator will contact the patient to schedule a complimentary information session.
• If the patient decides to seek TMS treatment with Advantage TMS, we will communicate with you when necessary and the patient will continue to work with you while receiving treatment.
Questions?
• Please don’t hesitate to contact us at 727-600-8093 or info@advantagementalhealth.com
