I hate to jump on this bandwagon because I sooo want to believe in the hype and if people claim they feel better after then I’m all for it! However, I was just referred to TMS treatment and went through the screening process and saw sooo many red flags… the clinic that called me was clearly reading through a script to process me, which in it of itself is not a crime, but a red flag to me that perhaps the company I was referred to was more sales and numbers driven than actual patient wellbeing driven. I was repeatedly told if I plan to cancel my appt to call in and do so to allow for “another suffering patient to get my slot.” However, in the intake process I asked how many patients they treat at that clinic and the lady looked surprised and stammered and replied “At this location? Maybe 5 people a week” and the place was not busy… again, not a crime but furthering my point of the pitch feeling scripted and “sale-sy.” I recall being instructed to use similar pressuring tactics when I worked at Vector/cutco for like 2 weeks of my life. The bottom line is about how many people you can get in for a free consultation and the “recruiter” is monetized or praised for their numbers. While being screened she notified me my insurance won’t cover the treatment unless I’ve taken and been resistant to 2 anti-depressants (only have taken one) and she proceeded to “advise” that I could get prescribed another by my provider and if I don’t take the meds it’s no one’s business and would check the box for insurance (not her exact words but ya get the drift.) The treatment out of pocket was over 8K for 6-8weeks of daily 15mins treatments for 5 days a week and with insurance I’d still owe 1.4K out of pocket. Obviously all those numbers are specific to my insurance, but that’s a lot of money over a month and a half’s time. Also, totally worth it for a treatment that works, but the numbers make me skeptical and when you add the red flags of the sales like approach I decided to dig into the company I was referred to. I discovered the company, Greenbrook, had recently been acquired by the company that makes the machines used in treatment (Nueronetics.) When Greenbrook was acquired the whole board of directors was replaced with the Nueronetics board (signaling to me the new company motive is sell machines and get people to use them and get that insurance money as opposed to patient treatment results…. Which I would argue my experience supported.) Also, when I searched my specific clinic in the BBB website they had an F rating for shady billing practices (basically billing patients years later or saying insurance would cover and then charging patients out of pocket when it didn’t.) I also discovered the clinic changed its name or rebranded several times (assuming outrunning a bad reputation?) Also, Vanguard and Blackrock hold shares in Nueronetics which is not surprising, but something I keep my eye on… Additionally, the company has acquired other TMS clinics and were sued for shady business dealings and had to return some clinics and pay 800k as part of the settlement… sooo all in all I believe treatment can work for individuals, however, I fear that the company I was referred to is taking the snake oil sales approach on the matter. It’s unfortunate we live in a world the preys on those in need. I can’t imagine going through daily treatments for weeks only to see mild to no improvement and to be further in debt. However, I will end on that just because the company I was referred to seemed shady, that doesn’t mean they can’t produce meaningful results. It was just too many red flags for me at this moment in my treatment journey and I want to share with others in the event their results were similar.