When life feels too heavy, the brain’s circuits for courage can dim. TMS therapy helps turn them back on—so you can rediscover strength, clarity, and balance.
TMS therapy reactivates the brain circuits that power courage and resilience.
For many patients considering TMS, the treatment itself is not the biggest obstacle. The schedule is. Traditional TMS typically requires patients to return to the clinic regularly over a period of several weeks, which can be difficult to manage alongside work, family responsibilities, travel, or a long commute.
Accelerated TMS approaches are designed to reduce that burden by delivering multiple treatment sessions within a shorter period of time. At Allevate, AMPA One-Day TMS takes that approach a step further by compressing a full course of stimulation into a single day rather than the traditional six-week schedule.
AMPA One-Day TMS uses the same FDA-cleared theta burst technology as Allevate’s standard TMS program. Instead of receiving one treatment session at a time across several weeks, patients receive 10 treatment sessions spaced throughout one day at the clinic.
The treatment remains noninvasive and is provided under close clinical supervision. By concentrating treatment into a single day, AMPA One-Day TMS gives eligible patients another way to access TMS when repeated trips to the clinic may otherwise be difficult.
One-Day TMS may be worth considering for patients who are interested in TMS but find a traditional multi-week treatment schedule difficult to accommodate. This may include people balancing demanding work schedules, caregiving responsibilities, travel, or significant distance from the clinic.
Traditional and accelerated TMS approaches offer different scheduling options around the same core treatment modality. The appropriate approach depends on the individual patient, their clinical needs, and the practical considerations that may affect their ability to complete treatment.
At Allevate, our team evaluates each patient individually and helps determine which TMS treatment schedule is the most appropriate fit.
These repeated activations strengthen the target circuits via the mechanisms of neuroplasticity: the brain’s ability to rewire itself in response to stimulation.
During treatment, a technician places the TMS coil on the scalp over the target area.
If depression has not improved enough with medication, therapy, or other approaches, TMS may be another treatment option to consider. But once you start researching TMS, the terminology can get confusing quickly: traditional TMS, accelerated TMS, SAINT, theta burst, one-day TMS.
These approaches all use transcranial magnetic stimulation, but they are not identical treatments with different calendars. Depending on the protocol, they can differ in scheduling, stimulation dose, targeting, number of sessions, and whether medication is used alongside treatment.
The biggest difference from a patient perspective, however, is often time: some TMS courses take place over several weeks, while accelerated approaches can substantially reduce the number of treatment days.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) uses focused magnetic pulses to stimulate targeted areas of the brain involved in mood regulation. You remain awake during treatment, and TMS does not require anesthesia. The coil rests against the scalp while pulses are delivered — you may feel a tapping sensation during stimulation.
TMS itself does not administer medication. Some newer protocols, however, have studied the use of medication alongside TMS to influence neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to rewire itself in response to stimulation.
Traditional TMS usually means receiving one treatment session per day, typically on weekdays over several weeks.
At Allevate Health, a typical TMS course may include approximately 20–40 sessions, depending on the protocol prescribed by your provider.
This once-daily approach has the longest clinical track record and is often the TMS schedule most familiar to insurance plans. For many patients, it remains a practical and well-established treatment pathway.
The tradeoff is time. Regular clinic visits over several weeks can be difficult for people balancing work, family responsibilities, travel, or a long commute.
Accelerated TMS refers broadly to protocols that deliver multiple TMS sessions per day instead of spreading them across several weeks.
There is no single accelerated-TMS schedule. Protocols can differ in the number of daily sessions, stimulation dose, targeting method, total number of treatments, and overall treatment span.
One well-known example is SAINT, a specific FDA-cleared accelerated treatment system for major depressive disorder in adults who have not improved sufficiently with prior antidepressant medication. SAINT combines individualized MRI-informed targeting with intermittent theta burst stimulation delivered 10 times per day over five days.
SAINT is therefore one type of accelerated TMS—not another name for accelerated TMS as a whole.
Other accelerated protocols may use different schedules and targeting approaches. The common goal is to reduce the number of separate clinic days required to complete treatment.
One-day TMS takes the accelerated concept further by concentrating multiple brief stimulation sessions into a single treatment day.
At Allevate Health, the one-day option is designed around approximately 20 brief stimulation sessions over one extended clinic day, with rest periods between sessions. The full visit may take about nine to ten hours.
Between stimulation sessions, patients have time to rest. The spacing between sessions is an intentional part of the treatment schedule rather than continuous stimulation throughout the day.
Depending on the prescribed protocol, off-label medication may also be used before treatment to support neuroplasticity. Off-label means that a medication is being used in a way that is not specifically FDA-approved for that purpose.
Research into one-day TMS is still developing. A published 2025 case series evaluated a one-day protocol called ONE-D in 32 adults with medication-resistant unipolar depression. Participants received 20 brief theta-burst sessions approximately 30 minutes apart over 9.5 hours, along with off-label medication augmentation.
met the ONE-D study's response criteria at six weeks
met remission criteria on the HDRS-17 depression scale
At six weeks, 87.5% met the study’s response criteria and 71.2% met remission criteria on the HDRS-17 depression scale. These findings are encouraging, but they should be interpreted cautiously: the study was small, unblinded, had no sham or control group, and included medication augmentation. Larger randomized studies are needed to determine how well the results generalize and how much of the observed benefit can be attributed to the one-day TMS schedule itself.
The study also found that improvement tended to develop over the weeks following treatment rather than appearing immediately after the treatment day.
| Traditional TMS | Accelerated TMS | One-Day TMS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions per day | Usually 1 | Multiple; varies by protocol | Approximately 20 |
| Overall schedule | Several weeks | Several days to a few weeks, depending on protocol | One extended clinic day |
| Main scheduling advantage | Established once-daily pathway | Fewer treatment days | Minimizes repeat clinic visits |
| Protocol | Depends on prescribed TMS approach | Varies significantly; SAINT is one specific example | Brief sessions spaced throughout the day |
| Insurance | Often covered when plan criteria are met | Coverage varies | Typically self-pay |
Choosing a TMS approach is not only about finding the shortest schedule. Your diagnosis, treatment history, medical history, insurance coverage, clinical needs, and ability to attend appointments all matter.
Traditional TMS may make sense if you prefer the most established scheduling approach or want to pursue an insurance-covered pathway. Accelerated TMS may appeal to patients who want to reduce the number of treatment days. One-day TMS may be especially worth discussing when repeated trips to the clinic are a significant barrier to receiving care.
Clinical fit matters just as much as convenience. Before recommending TMS, our team reviews your medical history and other factors that can affect treatment safety or appropriateness. Certain metallic or electronic implants near the treatment area can prevent TMS treatment, while factors such as a history of seizures require individualized risk assessment.
We can also explain the differences between the TMS protocols available through Allevate Health, review insurance or self-pay considerations, and help determine which schedule may make the most sense for your needs.
Magnetic stimulation is supported by over two decades of clinical and scientific research confirming its safety and effectiveness. It is considered a well-tolerated procedure.
To determine whether TMS therapy is right for you, our clinical team will review your medical history during your consultation.
A typical TMS session lasts between 3 and 20 minutes, depending on the treatment protocol prescribed by your provider. Traditionally, TMS is administered once daily. However, newer protocols may include multiple sessions per day, allowing the full course of treatment to be completed in fewer visits.
You can feel a tapping sensation on your scalp which a patient recently described as feeling like a woodpecker. Your practitioner won’t increase the power of the treatment until you’re comfortable with the feeling of the magnetic pulses.
Minor scalp discomfort, headache, or a mild burning sensation at the treatment site are the most commonly reported side effects during or after TMS therapy. These effects are typically temporary and usually resolve immediately or within the first week of treatment. In rare cases, seizures may occur; however, the risk is very low—less than 0.1% per patient—when therapy is administered in accordance with established safety guidelines.
TMS creates a magnetic field that could cause metal objects near the stimulation coil to move or get hot. Patients with non–removable magnetic-sensitive metals or metallic devices implanted in their head or in body parts near the stimulation may not receive therapy with our system.
TMS therapy is covered by most insurance companies.
TMS Therapy — Allevate Health, current 2026 service information.
Magnus Neuromodulation System with SAINT Technology — FDA 510(k) Summary — U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2022.
Real-World Effectiveness of a Single-Day Regimen for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Using Optimized, Neuroplasticity-Enhanced Techniques in Depression (ONE-D) — Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, 2025.
Accelerated Intermittent Theta-Burst Stimulation for Major Depressive Episodes: Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-analysis — Brain Stimulation, 2026.
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