Jul 6, 2020
Dr. Linda Carpenter is a Professor of Psychiatry in the Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Director of the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) at Butler Hospital. Dr. Carpenter completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan, her M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and internship in internal medicine, a residency program in psychiatry, and a clinical neuroscience research fellowship at Yale University. She joined the faculty at Brown in 1997 and has continued her path as a physician-scientist investigating the neurobiology of, and new treatments for, major depression and other mood and anxiety disorders. Dr. Carpenter has conducted a number of randomized clinical trials sponsored by industry and the National Institute of Health, including Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS). She is the founding Director of the Butler Hospital TMS Clinic and Neuromodulation Research Facility where she treats patients with pharmacoresistant depression and works with a variety of Brown-based research faculty who incorporate noninvasive brain stimulation techniques into their clinical research. Dr. Carpenter’s current research projects involve using imaging and EEG biomarkers to optimize and individually customize TMS therapy for depression.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain in order to improve symptoms of neuropsychiatric disorders. It is currently FDA approved for Major Depressive Disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. TMS is typically used when other treatments have been ineffective. TMS is a technique that applies magnetic pulses to the brain delivered by a coil which is placed on the patient’s head. The pulsed magnetic field induces an electrical current in the brain and causes activity in brain cells called neurons. Different coil types are used to induce different magnetic field patterns and how fast the pulses are delivered can determine how the brain changes in response. Stimulation pulses are typically applied at an intensity level that is customized for each individual patient.
Disclaimer: The information shared in this podcast is not a substitute for getting help from a mental health professional.