FOR Iain Cochrane, dealing with the crippling effects of depression and anxiety has been a lifelong battle.

But as the pandemic took hold, the Scot felt at his lowest ebb after losing his job and like so many others, found himself struggling amid the restrictions introduced to tackle the virus .

Now 29, after hundreds of hours of therapy, numerous prescriptions for anti-depressants, several breakdowns and a desperate attempt to take his own life, he is crediting a new treatment for turning his life around.

For the first time back in November 2020, Mr Cochrane, read about an effective evidence-based treatment for depression which remains relatively unknown.

rTMS, or, to give it its full name – Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation – is non-invasive, drug-free and is considered to be a potential solution where medical treatments have had little effect. It uses magnetic fields to stimulate areas of the brain which have responsibility for mood regulation, with sessions lasting as little as 35 minutes, which can be carried out multiple times in one day.

Mr Cochrane, from Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, has now had 30 sessions at the Glasgow-based Moving Minds clinic – the only licensed rTMS facility in the West Coast of Scotland – and has this month moved into the so-called ‘remission phase’, where he carries on with his life and simply observes his level of mood over time.

“I can honestly say that in all my wildest dreams I could not have expected the treatment to have had such an effective outcome as this,” he said.

“It’s hard to explain the level of hopelessness you feel when you’ve felt depressed for as long as you can remember, you’ve seen so many doctors, had all kinds of medication, cannot maintain a job because of the way your brain feels and you’ve tried to take your own life on more than one occasion because it feels like there’s no better choice.

“To go from that feeling – which is where I was in the autumn of 2020 after being made redundant due to Covid – and now feeling like the most optimistic, content, happy and ‘excited to be alive’ person….well, it’s almost unbelievable that this could happen to me.”

He was just 21 when he says he first experienced a breakdown and accepts that he has probably been crippled by depression since his childhood. During his university days, suicidal thoughts left him in need of medical intervention. days, and that it had simply become ‘a way of life’. Perhaps owing to the added pressu

“I was put on antidepressants and offered some counselling support, and as for most people, the medication worked for a while and I felt that must be the solution,” he said.

“The pills sort of masked my emotions and I stayed on them for a while, came off after a few years and then the issues and depressive thoughts would mount again and I’d be put back on a different kind of medication.

“It was such a cycle, and it always meant that my social life was compromised, I had low self worth, I wasn’t enjoying or feeling particularly successful in any of my work roles – and yet it felt like I was stuck with this way of life.”

By the age of 27, that relentless cycle and sense of doom resulted in him taking around 300 pills and ending up in Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. His suicide attempt saw him placed in a medical induced coma for two days and then further rehabilitated in a psychiatric hospital for one month.

Finally, by April 2019 he had become well enough to return to work – but it wouldn’t be long before world events would change life for everyone.

“It took me a long while to settle back into the pattern of work after being so ill, and then, less than a year from that point, I was placed on furlough and then subsequently made redundant as a result of Covid,” he said.

“I was at home feeling incredibly desperate, when I happened by chance to read in the paper about a new clinic in Scotland which was using a treatment specifically designed for dealing with depression which hadn’t shifted through other medication methods. It felt like my one chance of hope, and I contacted the clinic’s manager pretty much straight away.”

Isabel Leming is the co-owner of Moving Minds, which is based in Sandyford Place, Glasgow. Having used the treatment on patients since 2017, she is a passionate advocate for its effectiveness.

“Despite the fact that not many people know about rTMS, it’s a treatment which has been subject to huge amounts of global research and was given approval in the United States for depression treatment in 2008 and then authorised in the UK in 2015,” she said. “Our patient simply wears a special ‘hat’, while we use the magnetic device to target areas of the brain which are affected by depression and mood. These pulses are pain-free, and a session is as little as 35 minutes, and can be repeated again later in the day.”

rTMS is said to be particularly good for treating not only depression, but OCD and addictions too. It requires no sedation, and is treated as an outpatient’ appointment, with no reason to pause other activities for the rest of your day.

Ms Leming said: “I’m fortunate enough to have seen the significant and lasting impact that rTMS has for so many patients, so it’s a joy when you see someone like Iain have such a positive transformation in their life – albeit you’re not as surprised as they might be.”

Mr Cochrane added: “I can honestly say that this has 100% saved my life. It feels like a miracle cure, and without it, to be brutally honest, I’m not sure how I would have just kept going in the destructive cycle I was in. It’s transformed my life because I’ve now had the confidence to secure another great job in construction project management, and yet it’s also changed my family’s life too, because they’re enjoying getting to know a happier healthier me.

"I feel grateful that I’m one of the few people who can say that Covid has actually been a period in which they’ve come out the other side with better mental health than when it all started.”


*For more information about Moving Minds and rTMS, go to https://moving-minds.uk/