By Ansley Franco

Three months ago, Judy Corbett, MD, was attending a medical convention in Nashville, looking for tools she could bring back to her Gulf Coast GYN and aesthetics clinic in Foley, Alabama. That’s when she came across a booth offering a 10-minute demo of a non-invasive treatment for mental wellness. Curious, she sat down to try it.

“Even with just a 10-minute demo, I could feel the difference that occurs from this technology. It’s a sense of peace that is absolutely beneficial to mental clarity, sleep, and overall mood and anxiety. After personally experiencing that, I knew I wanted to bring that to my patients,” Corbett said.

The treatment she tried is ExoMind, a device that uses transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to help improve mental and emotional health. TMS isn’t new, it has been used in psychiatry for over 20 years, mainly to treat major depressive disorder. However, this version is designed to be faster and more accessible than traditional TMS methods.

The device quickly identifies a person’s motor threshold, or the lowest level of stimulation needed to cause a visible muscle twitch. Once that’s established, it delivers targeted magnetic pulses to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and aims to encourage the brain to rewire itself, a process known as neuroplasticity. The idea is that this stimulation helps shift the brain’s chemical balance, particularly between dopamine and serotonin, which can impact mood, anxiety and sleep.

While the research behind devices like ExoMind is still growing as it was launched early this year, more providers across different specialties are taking an interest in treatments that don’t require medication or invasive procedures. For Corbett, the firsthand experience was enough to start exploring how mental wellness tools like this could fit into her broader approach to care.

“Yearly checkups of women’s wellness and annuals are proactive measures to look for breast cancer or cervical cancer or other illnesses,” she said. “But wellness is really so much more than that. It’s an opportunity for someone to have a better quality of life, more longevity of life, to remain active as they age. I am 62 so I truly appreciate that aging does happen and being able to offer solutions for not just how we look as we age, but how we feel as we age, is very exciting.”

The ExoMind treatment protocol consists of six 24-minute sessions, typically done once a year. During each session, patients lie down while the device is placed on the scalp to deliver targeted magnetic stimulation. According to Corbett, the process is calming, and many patients even fall asleep during the treatment. Afterward, no recovery time is required so patients can immediately return to their daily routines.

The therapy has received FDA clearance for use in treating symptoms of depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, brain fog and excessive eating behaviors. For Corbett, one of the most noticeable personal benefits was improved sleep. “ExoMind is not gonna cure every mental condition or mental illness, but in conjunction with appropriate care, can significantly improve the quality of treatment,” she said.

Mental health remains a widespread concern. According to the National Health Interview Survey, about 20 percent of adults in the U.S. received some form of mental health treatment in 2020. That includes 16.5 percent who reported taking prescription medication for mental health reasons. Women were more likely than men to seek treatment, with higher rates of anxiety and depression across the board.

Corbett has seen a wide range of patients respond to ExoMind, some managing diagnosed conditions like PTSD, others overwhelmed by the demands of daily life.

“I have a gentleman struggling with PTSD who says that this has been life-changing for him. I have patients who struggle with just being a mom and working and struggling financially and all the different stressors that we deal with,” Corbett said.

Patients visiting Corbett’s Baldwin GYN and aesthetics practice often seek help managing stress and anxiety without the need for sleep aids or prescription nerve medications. While the once-a-year model works for many, individuals with more severe mental health diagnoses may require more frequent sessions. A full round of six ExoMind treatments costs $3,000. Corbett’s practice offers both short-term and long-term financing plans to make the therapy more accessible.

For Corbett, integrating ExoMind into the practice isn’t about replacing traditional mental health care, it’s about expanding the toolkit. While more research is still needed, tools like ExoMind suggest a growing shift toward accessible, non-invasive support for mental health, meeting patients where they are, both physically and emotionally.