Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

I was having trouble understanding the concept of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) from the book, but this video did a good job in explaining what they are used for.  TMS is a procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain. The first scientists to ever try anything with electricity were Galvani and Volta. In the late 1700's Galvani had a dead frog on a tin plate who's leg twitched with a metal knife.  This reaction led to a conclusion that frog muscles must contain electricity.  Volta demonstrated that the frog's muscles had nothing to do with the electricity, rather the two different metals and the moisture between them caused the electricity.  Just like this experiment over  200 years ago, we are now using TMS to manipulate electric current internally by an externally generated changing magnetic field.  The technique relies on electromagnetic reduction which is done by using a hand-held coil which passes current and is driven by a machine.  The magnetic field is passed through the skull into the brain.  TMS is able to influence movement, visual perception, memory, mood, and many more brain functions. TMS has been used for patients with depression, movement disorders, to test the excitability of connections within and among motor areas of the cortex, and basically anything dealing with the neurological and psychiatric aspects of the central nervous system.   There have been different uses for TMS. The video above, demonstrates that TMS is a less evasive treatment and is fairly new to treating depression.  With the advances that TMS has brought, maybe one day we will be able to treat all mood disorders with TMS and not with harmful medications which often has as many symptoms as the "cure" it gives the patient.