This article will educate individuals on TMS for alcohol addiction as a non-invasive, drug-free treatment option, comparing it to traditional methods while highlighting its benefits and effectiveness.
Traditional treatment methods struggle to overcome the challenges associated with alcohol addiction, namely, the cravings. Today, there are new options that include prescription medications and required therapy, but these all come with potential side effects. Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a new alternative for drug-free alcohol addiction treatment.
Understanding TMS Therapy for Alcohol Addiction
Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a process that uses a non-invasive procedure to stimulate the areas of your brain associated with alcohol cravings and help those areas get back to the way they functioned before alcohol. This, in turn, helps to reduce the cravings and any subsequent risk of relapse.
When you look at TMS therapy for alcohol addiction, it’s important to understand how it compares to other, more traditional alcohol addiction treatments.
Medication-Based Treatments vs. TMS
Medication-based treatments for alcohol addiction start with FDA-approved medication for what is called medication-assisted treatment or MAT.
MAT is a form of medication-assisted detox where you are prescribed one of several medications to help ease the discomfort and reduce the health risks associated with your withdrawal. After this, you are given subsequent prescriptions during the rest of your therapy, a requirement for these programs, to help reduce your cravings.
However, there are side effects to each. For example:
- Alcohol antagonists: These will cause you to become physically sick if you drink alcohol, giving you things like headaches and vomiting and limiting the positive feelings you get to help prevent a relapse.
- GABA analogs: These will reduce the effects of withdrawal, helping you get through detox, but they won’t help you with cravings thereafter.
Other medications might be prescribed to help with secondary symptoms of alcohol addiction, like depression or anxiety, and these come with their own set of potential complications and contraindications when mixed with other medications. Worse still, some can be addictive, too.
TMS, by comparison, works differently than these medications. Instead of causing you to get sick if you drink, they change the source of the cravings in your brain so you don’t want to drink at all.
This, in effect, changes the cause, not the symptom.
Psychotherapy vs. TMS
Psychotherapy for alcohol addiction works to teach many things like:
- A better understanding of your childhood experiences that have continued to alcohol
- A better understanding of personal triggers and when/how to avoid them
- How to develop personal coping mechanisms
- How to improve your emotional development and manage stress
Psychotherapy is there to help you better understand addiction and recognize that addiction is the result of trying to meet your needs with unhealthy habits. Psychotherapy can teach you to use healthy habits to meet those needs instead.
Psychotherapy retrains the brain in a way by teaching you new behaviors that you can use to develop new habits, but TMS therapy for alcohol addiction physically changes the brain and the connections in a much faster and potentially more long-lasting way.
TMS vs. Other Neuromodulation Techniques
Other neuromodulation techniques like tDCS or DBS can be used as an invasive or non-invasive alternative treatment for alcoholism. Methods like tDCS use a low-intensity current delivered by two electrodes to targeted areas of the brain, much the same as TMS, although the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood.
DBS, or deep brain stimulation, is a neurosurgical procedure that implants electrodes into the brain to regularly deliver electrical pulses to targeted areas. It is most commonly used for Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s diseases and is not necessarily recommended for substance abuse recovery.
Benefits of TMS Therapy for Alcohol Addiction
The benefits of applying TMS therapy for alcohol addiction are many, not least of which include the fact that it’s a non-invasive and drug-free process. You won’t risk additional addiction to recovery drugs, nor do you need to undergo surgery.
Additionally, TMS has minimal side effects but improves your quality of life immediately. This type of targeted brain stimulation gives you long-term recovery.
When used in conjunction with therapy or medication, as listed above, it can make it possible for you to better absorb things like coping skills that you are taught during your psychotherapy and makes it easier for medication to prove effective in reducing cravings.
What to Expect During TMS Therapy for Alcohol Addiction
When you start TMS alcohol addiction treatment, the treatment process is relatively short and simple.
The Treatment Process
During the treatment process you can expect to be placed in a comfortable chair after which a technician will place electrodes on either side of your head. The location is something that will be determined during your first session, called the mapping session.
The mapping session is important in understanding where the different parts of your brain are and, from there, where the electrode should go moving forward to help you with your TMS therapy for alcohol addiction.
Each session is an average of 20 minutes long, with a technician controlling the intensity and location of the electrical impulses. There is no need for sedation, so you can immediately return to your daily activities after each session. The sessions are so safe that you typically book one session every day of the week for one or two months, depending on your circumstances.
How Patients Feel During and After Sessions
During the sessions you can expect to feel mild tingling where the electrodes are placed. At most, some people report a headache after, but this tends to go away after the first few sessions. Beyond that you are able to return to normal immediately following each session.
TMS therapy for alcohol addiction has high success rates across various clinics and applications, averaging well over 75% Improvement and relapse reduction.
Who Can Benefit from TMS for Alcohol Addiction?
There are certain prerequisites in order to qualify for alcohol addiction TMS treatment. The most important thing is that you complete your detox process successfully.
Beyond that, those who are pregnant, have a history of epilepsy or seizures, or have implanted devices in the head or neck area may not qualify.
The Future of TMS Therapy in Addiction Treatment
There remains ongoing research and advancements in the field of TMS alcohol addiction treatment. As expanding access to TMS therapy makes it possible for clients around the world to receive the treatment they need, especially when covered by insurance programs, there remain growing opportunities for lasting recovery.
Is TMS for Alcohol Addiction A Drug-Free Alternative to Recovery?
TMS alcohol addiction treatment provides a promising alternative to traditional treatment. If you or someone close to you is struggling with alcohol addiction, explore innovative, evidence-based solutions.