Why Choose Us

Choosing a TMS Provider: What to Consider

If you're exploring transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) therapy, it’s important to find a practice that combines clinical experience, compassionate care, and a focus on ongoing innovation. At TMS Huntsville, our goal is to provide thoughtful, evidence-based treatment in a supportive environment.

Experience With TMS Therapy Since 2011

TMS Huntsville has offered TMS therapy for over a decade. Since 2011, we have focused on refining how TMS is delivered, with the aim of improving comfort, precision, and patient outcomes.

Clinical Involvement and Professional Commitment

Dr. Charles Hayden, a board-certified psychiatrist and graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), has been involved in clinical education and research related to TMS. His participation includes:

Collaborating on research studies with UAB
Offering clinical learning experiences to medical students and residents
Engaging with the Clinical TMS Society to stay informed about developments in the field
Speaking at professional meetings such as UAB Grand Rounds and the Alabama Psychiatric Physicians Association

A Team With Experience

Our clinical team includes well-trained staff with years of experience supporting TMS patients. Several members have worked together at TMS Huntsville for many years, helping ensure consistency and continuity of care.

Evidence-Based Technology

We use the MagVenture TMS system, a device widely used in research and academic settings. This system includes the FDA-approved Theta Burst protocol, which offers shorter treatment sessions while maintaining effectiveness. TMS Huntsville was among the early private practices in the region to adopt this technology.

Coordination With Other Providers

We welcome collaboration with your current mental health providers. Dr. Hayden and Kim McDonald, PMHNP, maintain professional relationships with many local psychiatrists, therapists, and nurse practitioners, and are available to coordinate care as needed. Providers are also welcome to visit and learn more about how TMS might support their patients.

Ongoing Monitoring and Individualized Adjustments

Dr. Hayden remains actively involved throughout treatment, meeting with patients regularly to assess progress and make adjustments when needed. Our goal is to tailor each protocol to the individual’s response, drawing from a range of well-studied approaches.

Treatment Options for OCD

Since 2020, we have also offered TMS treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) using a MagVenture coil specifically approved by the FDA for this condition. This allows us to support individuals with OCD who may not have responded to other treatments.

At TMS Huntsville, we approach TMS therapy with care, professionalism, and a commitment to doing what’s best for each patient. If you’re considering TMS, we’d be happy to answer your questions or coordinate with your provider to see if it might be a good fit.

Reviews & Testimonials

What our patients have to say about us:

TMS has given me my life back!

I recently struggled with severe depression for about a year. I was so depressed I didn’t want to function day-to-day and wished I were dead! I often contemplated suicide more times then I can count over the year. Thankfully I was referred for TMS therapy by my psychiatrist after failing multiple medications and ketamine infusions. I had 50 treatments with TMS over the course of one week. I did feel some improvement during the week of treatment but I had a delayed response and after 4 to 6 weeks post treatment I felt totally myself again. TMS has given me my life back and I can’t thank Dr. Hayden and his lovely staff enough!

Thank you!!

- Kimberly

For anyone considering TMS therapy, I highly recommend it.

When I met Dr. Hayden, I felt like I was pushing around a metaphorical grocery cart full of fragments, shards, and pieces of myself. Everything was stuffed randomly in bags and boxes. There was never any reason to talk about this scattered mess of components, because how could any good be found in such chaos?

During TMS treatment, I felt like these fragments began to coalesce into whole pieces of me that I thought were lost. Things that had been lost for years returned to me: my creativity, the light I carry for helping people, my intellectual curiosity. Instead of waiting for each day to be over, I found myself singing my toddler to sleep with all the love and peace I deserve.

Following TMS, I find myself no longer standing on the shore watching the ocean and the horizon line. Now, I have access to the space in the sky above the land and sea. No longer am I a sleepy and lonely observer. Finally, I am a part of the world around me in all dimensions.

Dr. Hayden has curated a careful collection of support staff. I cannot give a higher complement to his whole practice, from scheduling, to prescription management, to TMS therapy; all personnel are intent on their patient and are carefully attuned to their emotional needs as these needs evolve over the course of treatment. There was never a doubt in my mind that my health and well-being were the top priority. Dr. Hayden’s success is rooted in his intense curiosity and can also be attributed to his adaptability and agile consideration when off-normal circumstances are presented.

For anyone considering TMS therapy, I highly recommend it. I only wish I had found this practice much sooner and gotten more of my life back!

- Quinn

TMS saved my life!

I will try to keep this short but there is so much I would like to say to sing the praises of Dr.Hayden and his staff. Never have I experienced such caring and compassion in a healthcare environment not to mention the expertise in their field of study. Thank you Dr.Hayden for accepting me as a patient. TMS saved my life!