How Deep TMS Targets Brain Networks for Mood Regulation

Understanding the Brain’s Mood Networks—and How Deep TMS Targets Them More Effectively

Mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, and addiction aren’t just the result of dysfunction in one isolated part of the brain. Rather, they involve imbalances and disruptions in interconnected brain networks—large-scale systems of communication between multiple brain regions. Modern neuroscience has identified three key networks involved in regulating mood and behavior: the Central Executive Network (CEN), the Default Mode Network (DMN), and the Salience Network (SN). Understanding these networks provides a deeper appreciation of how mental illnesses develop—and how innovative technologies like BrainsWay’s Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (Deep TMS) are uniquely positioned to treat them.

The 3 Major Brain Networks in Mood Regulation

Central Executive Network (CEN)

• Function: The CEN is responsible for high-level cognitive tasks like working memory, decision-making, reasoning, attention control, and goal-directed behavior.
• Brain Regions: Primarily includes the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and posterior parietal cortex.
• Mental Health Relevance: The CEN is often underactive in depression, leading to poor concentration, indecisiveness, and cognitive sluggishness. In addiction, dysfunction in this network can impair judgment and increase impulsivity.

Default Mode Network (DMN)

• Function: The DMN is active when we are at rest, daydreaming, thinking about ourselves, or ruminating. It’s essentially the brain’s “pacecar.”
• Brain Regions: Includes the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, and hippocampus.
• Mental Health Relevance: Overactivity in the DMN has been linked to depression (especially rumination and negative self-focus), anxiety, PTSD, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Salience Network (SN)

• Function: The SN helps determine what information is relevant or “salient” and switches the brain’s activity between the DMN and CEN. It’s essential for emotional awareness and regulating desire and arousal.
• Brain Regions: Anchored in the bilateral insula and medial prefrontal cortex.
• Mental Health Relevance: Dysregulation in the SN is observed in depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and substance use disorders. It can result in inappropriate emotional responses and difficulty switching between internal thoughts and external focus.

How Deep TMS Targets Brain Networks for Mood Regulation

first-generation views of mental illness focused on “problem areas” in the brain—like a faulty DLPFC in depression. However, research now shows that psychiatric disorders often arise from dysfunctional communication across entire networks. That’s why treatments that stimulate only a pinpoint region may miss the broader picture.

First-generation figure-8 TMS coils provide focal stimulation, targeting only a small, superficial area of the brain, below cortical surface, which may limit therapeutic impact. In contrast, BrainsWay Deep TMS uses a patented H-Coil design that penetrates deeper (1.8-2.0cm vs. 0.7-1.0cm) and stimulates broader neural circuits (18cm³ vs. 3cm³)¹, reaching the interconnected networks responsible for these conditions². By influencing a wider range of brain activity, Deep TMS may offer a more comprehensive and effective treatment approach.

What makes Deep TMS Different?

BrainsWay’s Deep TMS technology, powered by its patented H-Coil design, was engineered specifically to address these interconnected brain networks in a more comprehensive way.

• Network-Targeted: By engaging regions within all three major networks (CEN, DMN, and SN), Deep TMS is designed to restore balance and connectivity across systems, not just improve one area’s function in isolation.
• Deeper Stimulation: H-Coils can reach brain structures up to 2.5x deeper than first-generation figure-8 coils, targeting deeper regions involved in mood and addiction regulation, such as parts of the DMN and SN.
• Broader Stimulation: Instead of only focusing on a narrow point (as with figure-8 coils), H-Coils stimulate a broader volume of the brain, better aligning with the wide-ranging architecture of mood-related networks.

This design has clinical implications. For example, BrainsWay’s FDA-cleared depression treatment using the H1 Coil targets the left DLPFC, a key CEN node, but also impacts the broader CEN-DMN-SN interplay. Similarly, the OCD protocol using the H7 Coil stimulates the medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, central to both the DMN and SN.

From Network Science to Real-World Impact

Patients who experience persistent depression, OCD, or addiction are often dealing with disrupted coordination between major brain networks. By understanding the brain through this lens, clinicians and researchers can move beyond one-size-fits-all approaches and toward network-guided interventions.

BrainsWay’s Deep TMS represents the forefront of this shift—offering a way to reach deeper, treat broader, and influence the very networks that shape our mood, thoughts, and behaviors.

Learn more:

• Deep vs. First-Generation
• Efficacy and Safety of Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Versus High-Frequency Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Major Depressive Disorder: A Systematic Review
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