Ashburn Clinic chief executive officer and medical director Dr Megan Bryan said it had a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) machine — the only one in the South Island, and one of only five in New Zealand.
She said the machine was used when mental health medications stopped working or were not tolerated well by patients.
"Some people can’t tolerate medication and they suffer terribly with side effects.
"Often people also find themselves stuck on medications that have stopped working, and they get a withdrawal syndrome.
"This is really about providing alternatives to medication, so that people have choice."
TMS is a non-invasive medical procedure using magnetic pulses to stimulate nerve cells in the brain, primarily for treatment-resistant depression and pain relief, but it is also showing promise for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety, fibromyalgia, migraines, PTSD and Tourette’s.
A coil is placed on the head and delivers pulses, similar in strength to those in an MRI, that pass through the skull.
These pulses induce brief electrical currents in specific brain areas, firing nerve cells and rewiring neural connections.
Patients remain awake during the procedure and are able to return to normal activities immediately afterwards.
It improves mood and cognitive function, and has proven to be an alternative to medication when other treatments fail, offering a safe option with minimal side effects.
Dr Bryan said the treatment typically lasted about 30 minutes, usually five days a week, for six weeks.
"It’s got a very good evidence base for its effectiveness for depression, anxiety, OCD, pain and mild cognitive impairment — that’s the thing that people worry about before they develop Alzheimer’s, and it seems to be able to help with cognitive flexibility."
She said the clinic had kept the machine’s existence under the radar because it had been difficult to get technical staff to administer the treatment.
"It’s that fine balance, really."
Alongside the TMS therapy, patients undergo psychotherapy so they not only change their brain, they also change their social, work and relational environment.
