To determine if SAINT is right for you, our team meets with you to review your health history. You will need a referral and a treatment summary from your psychiatrist. Most likely, you won’t need to stop taking antidepressants or psychiatric medications before treatment, but there are exceptions. Talk to your care team about any medications you’re taking.

The week before treatment, your care team takes detailed images of your brain using fMRI . These images allow the team to identify the optimal area of your brain to target treatment. Your doctor refers to the images during treatment to deliver magnetic pulses directly to the areas associated with your symptoms.

SAINT takes place over five consecutive days (Monday through Friday), so you’ll need to arrange to be in the clinic for 10 hours each day for five straight days. SAINT doesn’t require anesthesia or sedation. You can drive yourself to and from the appointments.

When you arrive at the clinic, your care team will place a small plastic “tracer” on your forehead using special tape. The tracer adheres to your head and enables the machine to precisely target the part of your brain that needs treatment. The tracer is painless and will stay in place for the entire day.

While you sit in a chair, your doctor places a coil on the top of your head. The coil is inside a flat piece of metal about the size of a small dinner plate. It is attached to a large wand that connects to a machine. Guided by your fMRI images, your doctor sends a series of magnetic pulses through your scalp into your brain.

The pulsing isn’t painful, but you will feel a tapping sensation on the top of your head. You’ll be fully awake and able to communicate with your care team the whole time. 

You’ll receive one treatment per hour. Each treatment takes 10 minutes. You can rest between treatments, and you may choose to read, relax, work, or get a bite to eat. You do not need to stay in the clinic room between treatments. At the end of the day, you go home or to wherever you’re staying during the week of treatment. You return to the clinic the next morning.

Many people begin to notice their depression symptoms improve sometime during the week of treatment. Some notice an improvement after just a few sessions. Other people feel better about a week after completing treatment.

Your care team will check in with you after treatment to see how you’re doing and discuss next steps. They may recommend coming to the clinic for a follow-up appointment or maintenance treatments. You should continue seeing your psychiatrist, and be sure to talk to your psychiatrist before stopping any medications.