ptsd spelled out on blocks
This entry was posted in PTSD - Trauma, TMS on by .
LinkedIn

Summary: Yes, TMS can help people with PTSD. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a technique that uses electrical current to stimulate specific areas of the human brain associated with the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Key Points:

  • Studies show TMS is effective in reducing treating major depressive disorder (MDD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), treatment resistant depression (TRD), and tobacco addiction.
  • A growing body of evidence shows TMS can help people with PTSD.
  • New studies show that TMS can help people from various backgrounds with PTSD, including combat veterans and survivors of trauma associated with sexual, physical, and emotional abuse

What is Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)?

The American Psychological Association (APA) describes TMS as follows:

“Transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, is a non-invasive treatment that uses strong magnetic pulses. These pulses, applied to the scalp, travel through the scalp and the skull to the brain. Depending on the specifics of the treatment, these pulses stimulate underactive areas in the brain or calm overactive areas. Over time, this helps improve neuroplasticity, i.e. the ability of the brain to send and receive signals between neurons, allowing it to change and adapt.”

Transcranial magnetic stimulation is FDA-approved for:

  • Treatment-resistant depression (TRD)
  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
  • Anxiety diagnoses
  • Anxious depression
  • Smoking cessation

Based on studies conducted on patients with PTSD, which we’ll discuss below, TMS is also considered an effective treatment for PTSD. It’s regularly used as an off-label treatment when other approaches don’t work well, or don’t work at all. Studies on combat veterans and other trauma survivors can experience significant symptom relief with TMS treatment.

Let’s take a look at the evidence base for TMS for PTSD now. Then we’ll describe the TMS treatment experience, and close with an overview of PTSD itself, and why evidence-based treatment is essential for people with clinical PTSD.

If you don’t know anything at all about PTSD, please skip to the brief primer at the end of this article. If you know about PTSD and want to learn about how TMS can help people with PTSD, keep reading.

Does TMS Really Help People With PTSD?

We’ll start with older studies on the effectiveness of TMS for people with PTSD. Medical research moves so quickly that studies from less than 15 years ago qualify as older, but don’t worry: there’s an abundance of new research on whether TMS can help people with PTSD.

Here’s the initial research:

Now let’s take a look at the latest research.

New Data for TMS Treatment for Patients with PTSD

In the study “Personalized fMRI-Guided TMS Targeting the Threat Neurocircuitry in PTSD: A Randomized Clinical Trial,” a group of researchers from Emory University examined the impact of precision-guided TMS on PTSD symptoms. The research team recruited a total of 50 patients with PTSD and divided them into two groups:

  • Sham TMS group: received treatment with inactive TMS devices
  • Active TMS group: received treatment with an active, fMRI-guided TMS device

Protocol:

  • All participants received full assessments for both PTSD and major depressive disorder (MDD) at baseline, at the end of treatment, and at 6-month follow up:
  • All participants received two TMS treatments per day for 10 days, i.e. two weeks of M-F weekday treatment

Here’s what they found:

  • Among patients in the active group, after the 10-day treatment period, researchers observed significant reductions in:
    • Total PTSD symptoms
    • Hyperarousal
    • Threat reactivity
  • Among patients in the active group, at 6-month follow up, researchers observed an ongoing trend of significant reductions in:
    • Total PTSD symptoms
    • Hyperarousal
    • Threat reactivity

In an interview with PTSD researchers on the Emory University study, the lead authors observe:

“This study shows that we can directly target the brain circuits involved in PTSD and produce measurable changes in both brain function and symptoms. By using MRI to guide stimulation, we are moving toward more precise, individualized treatments that address the biology of the disorder.”

Next, a study published in 2023 called “Prefrontal Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Depression in US Military Veterans – A Naturalistic Cohort Study in the Veterans Health Administration” conducted a much-needed study on TMS for veterans:

“Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is an evidence-based treatment for pharmacoresistant major depressive disorder (MDD), however, the evidence in veterans has been mixed. To this end, VA implemented a nationwide TMS program that included evaluating clinical outcomes within a naturalistic design. TMS was hypothesized to be safe and provide clinically meaningful reductions in MDD and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms.”

After administering the TMS protocol and applying advanced statistical analysis, the experiment showed promising results. Among 770 veterans who engaged in TMS treatment for PTSD, the research team found:

After one TMS session (430 veterans):

  • Statistically significant reductions in both MDD and PTSD.

Afte the recommended dose of 30 sessions (340 veterans):

  • Statistically significant reduction in PTSD: 65.3%
  • No longer met diagnostic criteria for PTSD: 46.1

Here’s how the researchers describe these results:

“These multisite, large-scale data supports the effectiveness and safety of TMS for veterans with MDD and PTSD using standard clinical approaches.”

Those studies led to ongoing research into TMS for PTSD.

We’ll close with a review of the most recent large-scale study on TMS for PTSD.

The Latest Data: TMS Gains Momentum as Effective PTSD Treatment

In 2026, the study “Effectiveness of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Multisite, Propensity-Matched Cohort Study of Treatment Parameters,” a follow up on the previous research for TMS, researched the optimal method for effective PTSD treatment, examining which specific type of TMS yielded the best treatment outcomes.

Data shows that of the three TMS protocols examined – standard TMS, iTBS, and dTMS – resulted in significant symptom reduction on the PCL-5:

  • Standard TMS a 10 Hz:
    • 63% reduction in PCL-5 scores
    • 47% of patients achieved remission of PTSD symptoms
  • Intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS):
    • 65% reduction in PCL-5 scores
    • 48% of patients achieved remission of PTSD symptoms
  • Deep TMS:
    • 78% reduction in PCL-5 scores
    • 49% of patients achieved remission of PTSD symptoms

Those results are the most convincing to date. The rates of improvement and rates of remission show that various TMS protocols can be effective for various treatment populations, and with proper treatment matching, TMS may be effective in reducing symptoms for patients with mild, moderate, or severe, treatment resistant PTSD.

That’s the end of our data on TMS and PTSD. We’ll close this article with a brief overview of PTSD, an explanation of why treatment is essential, and a quick description of the TMS treatment experience.

What Is PTSD?

PTSD stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It’s a serious mental health disorder that can develop in response to a single traumatic event, multiple traumatic events, or ongoing exposure to trauma.

The following circumstances can lead to PTSD:

  • Direct experience of trauma
  • Witnessing traumatic events
  • Exposure to traumatic events through media
  • Ongoing exposure to the aftermath or consequences of traumatic events

People who develop PTSD experience significant distress due to intrusive memories, recurring nightmares, and other reminders of the traumatic event(s). This disorder can have a profound negative impact on the ability to function in relationships, at school, and at work.

What Causes PTSD?

Among the general public, PTSD is most often associated with soldiers who experience combat. While combat can cause PTSD, it’s not the only type of trauma that can cause PTSD.

Any event that causes a person to fear for their life or for the life of someone they care about can be a precursor to PTSD. In addition to warfare, this can include events such as the following:

  • Childhood abuse or neglect, psychological and/or emotional
  • Physical abuse/assault
  • Sexual abuse/assault
  • Domestic violence
  • Verbal or online harassment
  • Serious accidents
  • Major illnesses
  • Natural disaster
  • War
  • Terrorism

Signs & Symptoms of PTSD

PTSD affects different people in different ways. Mental health experts identify four primary types of PTSD symptoms:

  1. Intrusive memories
  2. Avoidance behaviors
  3. Changes in thought/mood
  4. Changes in physical/emotional reactions

For a detailed explanation of those symptoms, please read the following article on our blog:

How Do You Recognize the Symptoms of PTSD?

Summing it All Up: What is the TMS Experience Like for Patients?

Here’s a brief description of what a patient experiences during a TMS session:

  • Treatment occurs under the supervision of qualified medical personnel in an outpatient office setting.
  • Patients sit in a big comfortable medical chair – think dentist’s office – or recline on an exam bed, like those found in most doctor’s offices or urgent care centers.
  • No anesthesia or sedation is required to participate in a TMS session.
  • Patients are awake during treatment.
  • Clinicians place a small electromagnetic coil on the scalp.
  • The TMS unit generates small, repetitive electromagnetic pulses that pass through the skin and skull to stimulate specially targeted structures in the brain.
  • Most sessions last about 20 minutes.
  • Clinicians monitor progress throughout the entire session.
  • In most case, clinicians and patients engage in conversation during sessions, which increases efficacy and improves results
  • A standard course of treatment involves one session per day, five days a week, over several weeks. Most patients participate in 20-30 sessions.

In most cases, the TMS procedure is pain-free, with very few side effects, if any. Some patients may experience involuntary eye twitching or muscle contraction during TMS session, and other patients may experience mild headache or mild pain at the treatment site, which typically fade within 24 hours.

About Angus Whyte

Angus Whyte has an extensive background in neuroscience, behavioral health, adolescent development, and mindfulness, including lab work in behavioral neurobiology and a decade of writing articles on mental health and mental health treatment. In addition, Angus brings twenty years of experience as a yoga teacher and experiential educator to his work for Crownview. He’s an expert at synthesizing complex concepts into accessible content that helps patients, providers, and families understand the nuances of mental health treatment, with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes and quality of life for all stakeholders.