Episode Details

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Georgine Nanos — board certified family physician, founder of Kind Health Group and Kind TMS, and the first clinician in the world to successfully condense the 40-day TMS protocol into a single day.

TMS stands for transcranial magnetic stimulation. It's been FDA approved since 2008, has no long-term side effects, and uses magnetic field energy to create new synaptic pathways in the part of the brain where anxiety, depression, and PTSD get locked into negative stress loops. The Stanford trial that condensed it from 40 days to five days got a 90% response rate. Dr. Nanos condensed it further — to a single 12-hour day — and got the same results.

But this is not just a clinical episode. We talk about why men specifically have such a hard time reaching out, why burnout is a perfectly valid reason to pursue this, why the cop from the Bay Area who couldn't be present for his kids started playing drums again a month after treatment, and why the family almost always sees the improvement before the patient does.

Dr. Nanos also gets personal — she has mild anxiety and insomnia, was skeptical when she first tried TMS on herself, and has now done it multiple times since. Her kids describe her as chill. She credits the machine.

Timeline Summary

[0:00] Introduction to the Dad Edge mission and the movement to raise leaders of families and communities

[1:03] What TMS is — transcranial magnetic stimulation, FDA approved for 18 years, not electric shock therapy

[2:38] How negative stress loops form in the brain — and how TMS creates new synaptic pathways around them

[5:41] The difference between TMS and ECT — why TMS was born and why ECT is the last resort

[6:59] Why TMS hasn't gone mainstream — 40 days, insurance barriers, and older devices that were uncomfortable

[8:11] Stanford condenses it to five days and gets a 90% response rate — then Dr. Nanos condenses it to one

[10:05] The single-day protocol study — 34 patients, same results as Stanford, now being studied at UCLA and Harvard

[12:16] Response rate vs. remission — what the clinical measurements actually mean

[14:47] Introducing Dr. Nanos — Kind Health Group, Kind TMS, and refusing to stay inside the lines of traditional medicine

[17:15] What the experience actually feels like — comfortable table, dim lights, binaural beats, light tapping on the skull

[24:00] Why medication is only 40-50% effective for depression — and why TMS is a more targeted approach

[28:01] Men and mental health — the walk of shame, the fear of looking broken, and why burnout is a valid reason to come in

[30:44] High-functioning people at their last straw — midlife, peak career, aging parents, hormonal shifts, and the perfect storm

[31:40] What patients feel after the 12-hour day — tired, then slow incremental change, sleep improves first

[33:41] The Marine Corps veteran who felt agitated around his kids — and what changed after TMS

[35:58] TMS is scaffolding, not a silver bullet — you still have to do the climbing

[39:22] Who is a candidate — ages ten into their 90s, autism spectrum, teens, veterans, first responders

[43:25] The cop from the Bay Area — Iraq War veteran, suicide attempt in his past, couldn't be present for his kids

[45:23] He got the band back together — and his wife saw the change before he did

[47:27] What happens when patients relapse — booster sessions, obsessive follow up, and a year of ongoing care

[49:07] Insurance only covers the 40-day protocol — and only after failing 3-4 medications

[51:06] The price point — $12,000 for the full year of care including financing options and veteran programs

[54:07] Dr. Nanos did TMS on herself — skeptical at first, now does booster sessions every 6-7 months

Five Key Takeaways

1. TMS is not electri