In the news: Dr. Mahmoud Okasha is the first private practice psychiatrist in the state to offer a new treatment for depression. Transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy is for patients who have not improved sufficiently using medication or who experience intolerable side effects. Clinical trials showed the treatment provided significant improvement for depression and associated anxiety symptoms, he said.
Background: Dr. Okasha is an associate clinical professor at Yale University and a member of The William W. Backus Hospital medical staff. He has practiced in Norwich since 1977.
Education: He attended medical school in Egypt and trained there and in England before coming to Connecticut in 1974, where he completed his fellowship at Yale’s department of psychiatry. He also is involved in two clinical research studies, one for a new medication to help with mild and moderate Alzheimer’s disease and another for a new medication to treat depression and anxiety.
New treatment: Neurostar TMS Therapy was recently approved by the FDA. Patients do not require anesthesia or sedation, and stay awake during the procedure. The outpatient treatments take about 40 minutes, and are typically administered five times a week for four to six weeks.
Minimal side effects: Dr. Okasha said the most common side effects are scalp pain, tingling or headaches, which were generally mild to moderate, and occurred less frequently after the first week of treatment.
Quotable: “It is a non-invasive treatment, unlike other treatments we have used in the past, and allows patients to continue their normal activities immediately following treatment,” he said.
