For millions of people, depression is more than just having a low mood—it’s a debilitating condition that resists conventional treatment. If you’ve tried therapy and multiple medications without lasting relief, you’re not alone. Fortunately, a growing field called interventional psychiatry is transforming how we treat depression, offering advanced, neuroscience-based options when traditional approaches fall short. Using procedural, technology-assisted treatments to directly affect brain circuits involved in mood, emotion, and cognition, these methods are especially effective for treatment-resistant depression (TRD)—a condition that often does not respond to, or improve with, medication and therapy.

Who Should Consider Interventional Psychiatry?

You might be a candidate if you:

• Have not responded to multiple antidepressants or psychotherapy
• Experience severe or suicidal depression
• Cannot tolerate medication side effects
• Are looking for non-pharmaceutical alternatives

Cutting-Edge Treatments for Depression

Here are some of the most promising interventional treatments available today:

1. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

• How it works: A non-invasive device delivers magnetic pulses to stimulate areas of the brain involved in mood regulation (typically the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex or medial prefrontal cortex).
• Why it’s effective: Helps “rewire” dysfunctional brain activity without medication or sedation. By strategically stimulating brain activity in these areas, it fosters and strengthens new connections and patterns that oppose those of depression.
• Ideal for: Patients who haven’t responded to antidepressants or prefer drug-free options.
• The IPOP difference: We have years of experience applying the latest insights of TMS research to arrive at individualized treatment plans and achieve better results. We offer accelerated treatments—patterned from the SAINT protocol—to reach our goal more quickly and effectively. We also specialize in combining TMS with other treatments in order to leverage the synergy of those combinations and optimize results for our patients.

2. Intravenous Ketamine Therapy

• How it works: Ketamine administered intravenously that acts rapidly on glutamate receptors to restore synaptic connections.
• Why it’s effective: Relief can begin within hours to days—a game-changer for suicidal or deeply depressed patients. By enhancing neuroplasticity, this treatment enables stubborn depressive thought patterns to more readily change and new thought patterns to be reinforced.
• Ideal for: TRD and acute suicidal ideation
• The IPOP difference: One of the first in the area to offer IV ketamine infusions, we have a wealth of experience overseeing this powerful treatment option. Unlike many others offering this without professional training in the mental health field, our team of experienced psychiatric and mental health providers have the expertise to administer this treatment of depression safely and effectively, and in a way that promotes optimal growth and healing.

3. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)

• How it Works: Uses low-level electrical currents to modulate activity in the left frontal cortex, enhancing activity that depression has suppressed.
• Why it’s effective: A more subtle approach to neuromodulation, effects of this treatment are cumulative over multiple sessions and steadily promote a direction of brain activity that opposes both depression and anxiety.
• Ideal for: People who desire a non-medication treatment they can do at home, or for those who could benefit from using this treatment as a supplement to enhance the effects of other antidepressant treatment.
• The IPOP difference: While our device is utilized in the comfort of your home, we can guarantee that it is a medical-grade device that will provide science-based treatment and optimal results. Our staff also provides training to ensure proper usage and quality-control monitoring of your treatment, offering clinical recommendations for any adjustments that could enhance treatment benefits.

4. Combined & Additional Interventional Strategies for Depression

Many of the interventions named above can be combined, either with each other or with additional interventions, to optimize your path toward healing. Below are a few of these combined or additional options.

• Botulinum Toxin – By relaxing facial muscles involved in expressing depression, these injections can manipulate the emotion-expression feedback loop to create a positive impact on mood.
• Nutritional Supplements – While there are a host of claims made about what a supplement can do, at IPOP we are always reevaluating the evidence from quality, peer-reviewed studies to bring real-world knowledge to our patients and help them weigh expectations for alleviating symptoms of depression.
• Combination Interventions – While all of the above interventions may be helpful by themselves, we often find that combining them can achieve even greater results when we have not reached our goal with one alone. At IPOP we have experience achieving this synergy with the following combinations:
  • ketamine and TMS
  • tDCS and TMS
  • tDCS and ketamine

Break Free From Depression

Interventional psychiatry represents a paradigm shift: from trial-and-error medication to precision neuroscience. As our understanding of brain circuitry improves, so will our ability to target and treat mood disorders effectively—and with fewer side effects.

Even when these therapies aren’t replacements for traditional care, they can be powerful complements. Many patients continue talk therapy or use medications alongside these advanced tools.

Depression can feel hopeless, but treatment is evolving. Interventional psychiatry offers real hope for those who haven’t found relief through conventional means. If you or a loved one are struggling with treatment-resistant depression, contact IPOP to learn more about how these interventions may help. You deserve a treatment plan for depression as unique and complex as your brain.