Magnetic therapy offers hope — and mixed results — for Sacramento region
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- Transcranial magnetic stimulation clinics multiply in Sacramento.
- County faces mental health strain with one provider per 220 residents in 2024.
- UC Davis reports 50–60% symptom relief rate from TMS among clinic patients.
To ease depression and stimulate brain activities, patients put on a helmet-like device with magnetic energy for a mental health treatment called transcranial magnetic stimulation.
During the therapy, a machine delivers pulses that felt — as Katharine Marder, associate physician of psychiatry at the Advanced Psychiatric Therapeutics Clinic at the UC Davis — put it, like a woodpecker tapping steadily on the scalp.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, uses magnetic fields similar to those in an MRI machine to activate nerve cells in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of the brain and relieve symptoms of depression, she explained. Marder found that most medications used to treat depression try to rebalance neurotransmitters in the brain, and about one in three people with depression face resistance to traditional treatment.
“There’s a pretty big unmet need (in Sacramento County),” Marder said. “Depression that has not improved with two different medications — the chances that it will improve with a third or fourth medication are less than 20%. And we feel like we could be doing better for our patients.”
She hopes the Advanced Psychiatric Therapeutics Clinic offered a new solution to a widening mental health gap across Sacramento County based on “hope and not hype.” Marder has seen about 50 to 60% of patients’ symptoms subside by at least 50%, and the care covered by most major insurance plans, minimizing questions of accessibility.
She has seen an uptick in commercial clinics across the county that could be attributed to an increased demand from Sacramentans fed up with traditional forms of intervention.
“We’re starting to see this kind of paradigm shift where we’re using TMS earlier in our treatment algorithm,” Marder said. “I think that’s ultimately a very good thing because what we know about depression is the sooner we can restore someone to wellness, the better they will do long term.”
Mindful Health Solutions was one of the first outpatient psychiatric practices to provide TMS in the United States when it was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2009, according to Toby Martin, chief medical officer at the clinic. He said Mindful Health Solutions has seen an increased demand from Sacramento County residents due to a growing mental health crisis in the U.S. As of 2023, 1 in 5 U.S. adults were diagnosed with a depressive disorder, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We have an epidemic of mental health diagnoses in the U.S., and our standard treatments, while they work for some people, have not worked for the majority of people to the extent that we would like,” Martin said. “And TMS has just really proven its value for that patient population.”
Carol McElheney, a Sacramento County resident, received the treatment five years ago but said the treatment fell just short of its novelty promise.
After being referred for the therapy by a counselor, McElheney began receiving TMS treatment. However, she later decided the therapy wasn’t the right fit for her, noting it was “painful,” didn’t lead to the improvements she had hoped for.
“The doctor that was providing it gave me more drugs than I was on to begin with,” McElheney said. “So that eliminated the reason why I was taking it in the first place.”
Since then, McElheney has been receiving ketamine shots from a primary care psychiatrist to better her mental health, which she has found to be more helpful than TMS.
Last year, there was one mental health provider per 220 people registered in Sacramento County, California, according to County Health Rankings and Roadmaps, a program provided by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute that measures health across U.S. counties. During the past two years, the county has faced significant workforce shortages in meeting the diverse needs of residents — particularly adults and people experiencing homelessness, according to Ryan Quist, Behavioral Health Services director for Sacramento County.
Although the county doesn’t contact the service, Quist said the increase in private clinics offering TMS was a promising alternative to fill the countywide mental health gap. There are nine clinics across the county that offer TMS.
“I’ve been watching very closely as UC Davis has been using this particular mode of service to make it accessible to people here in Sacramento County,” Quist said. “We’re very supportive of that and look forward to the benefits that it will bring to the folks here in Sacramento County.”
This story was originally published August 2, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
