ELITE Patient Advocate Martha Rhodes, Author of 3,000 Pulses Later: A Memoir of Surviving Depression Without

Martha Rhodes

Patient Advocate and Author of 3,000 Pulses Later: A Memoir of Surviving Depression Without

 

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From Advertising Exec to Advocate

Martha Rhodes’ 25-year career as a senior-level executive at major New York advertising agencies led to her induction into the Print Media Hall of Fame in 2008. But just a year later, she found herself in a hospital emergency room being treated for a self-inflicted drug and alcohol overdose.

With such a successful career and a seemingly perfect personal life, why would Martha want to die? She was unaware that the antidepressants she’d been taking since a clinical depression diagnosis in the 1990s (now referred to as Major Depressive Disorder) had stopped working—leaving her hopeless and suicidal.

After a psychiatric ward stay and months of failed medication trials, Martha chanced upon an ad for a new depression treatment: NeuroStar Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). This non-invasive therapy, which received FDA clearance for depression in 2008, uses MRI-strength magnetic pulses to stimulate nerve centers in the brain associated with mood regulation. Martha’s successful treatment with NeuroStar TMS Therapy, along with a passion to help others with depression, led her to write a book titled 3,000 Pulses Later: A Memoir of Surviving Depression Without Medication (Pushpin Press)—now in its fourth printing.

Martha currently devotes her time as a TMS Advocate for patients who contact her from throughout the United States, and from as far away as Europe, Australia, South America, Canada, South Africa, and The Middle East. She has run support groups and social networking sites for patients who are considering TMS therapy for their depression.

She expands her TMS advocacy through online and print publications such as U.S. News & World Report, The Saturday Evening Post, The Boston Globe, and HealthyWomen.org, plus media appearances including ABC-TV, Fox News TV, and The Daily Buzz. Martha’s speaking engagements in the United States and internationally emphasize the significance of TMS as a viable therapy alternative and the dangers of undiagnosed and untreated Treatment Resistant Depression.

Martha is the resident contributor to TMS+You, the premiere patient advocacy forum for TMS therapy. She is on the Patient Advisory Council of the ISEN (International Society for ECT and Neurostimulation) and is a member of NAMI (National Association for Mental Illness).

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