The Neuroscience Center, LLC in Deerfield, IL
Brain Health Assessment
If treatment hasn't worked yet, it isn't because you didn't try hard enough.
If you or someone you love has been through several medications, therapists, or wellness plans and still doesn't feel like yourself, you're not alone — and you're not failing at this.
Here's the part most people never get told: your brain is an organ, like your heart or your lungs. It can be healthy, it can be strained, and it can be struggling. And just like a heart problem shows up as chest pain or shortness of breath, a brain that's struggling shows up as foggy thinking, constant worry, feeling numb, or being wiped out by things that used to be easy.
Different parts of your brain handle different jobs — focusing, planning, sensing danger, inhibiting pain, feeling pleasure, and keeping your energy up. When one of those areas isn't working well, you feel it in a very specific way. The pattern you feel is a clue about which part needs help. That's what this page is for: helping you figure out your pattern, so treatment can be aimed at the right place instead of guessed at.
What Do We Mean by "Brain Health"?
Groups of brain cells work together like teams — one team handles focus and planning, another watches for danger, another handles enjoyment and motivation. When a team is out of sync, that specific job gets harder.
Feeling foggy is a different problem than feeling numb, which is different from feeling on-edge. Two people can both be called "depressed" and actually need two completely different treatments.
Your brain isn't stuck the way it is. It's built to rewire and rebuild connections throughout your whole life. The goal of treatment is to give it the right conditions to do that — so the brain is healthier and can learn to stay healthy.
This isn't about willpower, personality, or attitude. It's about how a physical organ is functioning — and that's something we can measure and work on.
Why It Matters Who You See
A lot of clinics started offering these treatments in the last few years. We've been doing this since 1999.
Our medical director has used TMS — a treatment that uses gentle magnetic pulses to help reset activity in specific parts of the brain, with no surgery and no anesthesia — since 1999, with FDA permission, almost ten years before it was formally FDA-approved in 2008. That's more hands-on experience with this treatment than any other community-based clinician in the country.
He's also the one who first combined TMS with ketamine as a single treatment, 15 years ago, and has been refining it every day since with people other clinics couldn't help. On top of that, he completed advanced training at the University of Chicago in brain scanning that shows how a brain is working — not just what it looks like — so treatment can be aimed at the right spot.
We were using TMS with FDA permission nearly a decade before it was formally approved in 2008 — more experience with it than any other community-based clinician in the U.S.
Our medical director was the first to pair TMS and ketamine together as one treatment, 15 years ago, and has been improving it ever since.
Specialized University of Chicago training in scans that show how the brain is actually functioning — so we can tell similar-looking conditions apart.
Decades of experience combining medical treatment with nutrition, sleep, supplements, and lifestyle — because lasting results need both.
First We Get the Brain Unstuck. Then Everything Else Starts Working.
If therapy, medications, exercise, and supplements haven't helped, it usually isn't because those things don't work. It's because a part of the brain is stuck in a pattern it can't get out of on its own — so nothing new can get through. Think of a car stuck in mud: pressing the gas harder isn't the answer. You have to get the wheels free first.
We use TMS and ketamine together. The ketamine helps your brain quickly start building new connections — for about two to three days afterward, your brain is unusually good at forming new patterns, like a window of opportunity opening. The TMS uses gentle magnetic pulses to calm the overactive area and guide those new connections in a healthier direction.
Once the brain is unstuck, everything that didn't work before starts to. Therapy sinks in. Sleep improves. Good habits actually stick. Nutrition and supplements make a difference. This is the part that keeps the results going long after treatment ends — and it's why we don't stop at Step 1.
The Four Patterns: Which One Sounds Like You?
Most people see themselves in one of these more than the others — and many people have a bit of two. There's no wrong answer here. Knowing which pattern fits you is what lets us aim treatment instead of guessing.
1. Foggy Thinking & Feeling Overwhelmed
Your Brain's Planning CenterThe part of your brain that organizes and plans has slowed down. Things that should be simple — making an appointment, following a recipe, deciding what to do first — feel like too much. People often describe it as thinking through mud.
TMS and ketamine together help rebuild the connections in this area, so planning and focus stop feeling like such hard work.
What treatment usually looks like for this pattern ▼
Medications that sharpen alertness and mental clarity, and treatments that support memory and processing speed.
Anything sedating — including some common allergy medicines, sleep aids, older antidepressants, and certain anti-anxiety medications. These slow down the exact area that's already slow.
Nutrients that support brain cell structure and memory, certain herbs traditionally used for clear thinking, and high-quality omega-3 fish oil.
2. Constant Worry & a Harsh Inner Voice
Your Brain's Alarm SystemYour brain's alarm system is stuck in the "on" position. A short text, a look, or a work email gets read as criticism or a threat before you've had a chance to think about it. Your mind replays things over and over and won't let go.
TMS calms the overactive alarm area while ketamine breaks the loop of repeating thoughts. Most people describe the relief as finally being able to exhale.
What treatment usually looks like for this pattern ▼
Medications that quiet the body's stress response and turn down a nervous system that's stuck on high alert, including low-dose maintenance treatment.
Stimulating or activating medications given without something to steady the nervous system first — these can crank up anxiety or panic. Stopping certain calming medications suddenly is also risky.
Herbs traditionally used to lower stress hormones and steady mood, calming botanical oils, and forms of magnesium that support relaxation and sleep.
3. Feeling Numb & Nothing Brings Joy
Your Brain's Reward SystemThe part of your brain that creates enjoyment and motivation has gone quiet. Good things happen and you feel almost nothing. You still show up and do what's expected, but you're running on obligation instead of wanting to.
We work to switch the reward system back on using targeted stimulation, ketamine, and medications chosen specifically to restore motivation rather than flatten it further.
What treatment usually looks like for this pattern ▼
Medications that restore motivation and drive, including some options many general practices don't use — which is often why this pattern gets missed.
This is important: several of the most commonly prescribed antidepressants can actually deepen the numbness for this pattern. So can certain medications used to steady mood. If you've felt flatter on medication, this may be why.
Amino acids the body uses to build motivation-related brain chemicals, energizing herbs, and nutrients that lower inflammation in the brain.
4. Mental Exhaustion & Running on Empty
Your Brain's Stamina SystemYour brain burns through energy far too fast. An hour of concentrating, a long conversation, or a stack of email leaves you completely drained — and it's a heavy, physical kind of tired, not just boredom.
We combine brain stimulation with treatments that restore your brain cells' actual energy supply, so focus lasts longer before you hit the wall.
What treatment usually looks like for this pattern ▼
Medications that support sustained attention and stamina, plus IV treatments that help restore the energy your brain cells run on.
Sleep medications, sedating allergy medicines, certain blood pressure medications that cause fatigue, and long-acting anti-anxiety medications — all of these chip away at your ability to hold focus.
Mushroom extracts studied for nerve growth, creatine for cellular energy, and nutrients that support the tiny "batteries" inside your brain cells.
Find Your Pattern
Answer honestly about how things have been over the last few months. There's no passing or failing — this just shows which parts of your brain may need the most help. Someone who knows you well can fill out their own version too, using the second button.
Watching someone you love struggle is hard, and what you notice matters. Please answer based on what you actually see day to day.
Enter your email to receive access to your results.
Your quiz answers are not sent with this form. This assessment is educational and is not a diagnosis.
Your Results at a Glance
The farther a corner stretches out, the more that area is affecting you.
Comparing the Two Views
Agreement is important, and so is a lack of overlap. Different viewpoints can provide useful information, and neither person has to see everything exactly the same way.
Bring these results with you. They give us a real starting point on day one instead of spending your first visit on questions you've already answered a dozen times.
This is a starting point for a conversation, not a diagnosis. Only a licensed clinician who has met with you can diagnose or recommend treatment. If you're having thoughts of harming yourself, please call or text 988 right now — it's free, confidential, and available 24/7.
We Don't Bill Insurance — Here's Why That's Deliberate
We want to be upfront about this, because we know cost matters. We don't contract with insurance companies. Insurance plans are generally built around trying one standard medication after another, and they often limit or refuse to cover the more advanced treatments we specialize in — or make you wait months for permission first.
Paying us directly means your doctor decides your care, not an insurance reviewer who has never met you. Here's what that means in practice:
No waiting weeks or months for an insurance company to approve treatment — and no being required to fail cheaper options first.
Your treatment is based on what your brain actually needs — not on what a coverage policy happens to allow.
We tell you what everything costs before you commit. No hidden facility fees and no surprise bills later.
We give you an itemized receipt you can send to your insurance yourself for possible partial reimbursement, and you can usually pay with an HSA or FSA account.
Partnering to Resolve Treatment Resistance in Your Most Complex Clients
When your clients plateau or fail multiple monoaminergic trials, talk therapies, or lifestyle interventions, standard care has hit a biological ceiling. We specialize in circuit-level interventional psychiatry—providing sub-millimeter differential diagnosis and targeted combination TMS/ketamine therapy to desynchronize pathological neural loops.
Biological Stabilization That Re-Engages Patients for Psychotherapy & Primary Care
When a neural circuit is locked in refractory failure, talk therapy and lifestyle coaching hit a biological wall. Our concurrent 1 Hz Fz TMS + ketamine protocol triggers rapid synaptogenesis (opening a 48–72 hour neuroplasticity window) while calming hyperactive threat loops. Once biological circuit desynchronization is repaired, the client returns to your practice far more receptive to ongoing psychotherapy, coaching, and integrative maintenance.
We map the exact circuit deficit (CCN, Salience, Reward, Frontoparietal) using dual intake tools and objective cognitive batteries.
Patented concurrent 1 Hz Fz TMS + ketamine stacking desynchronizes locked threat loops and stimulates prefrontal spine growth.
We provide detailed clinical discharge documentation and return the biologically stabilized client to your care for long-term growth.
Loved One / Informant Observational Assessment Tool
Use this observational scale to gather structured behavioral data from the client's family, spouse, or key contacts over the past 3–6 months.
Observed Circuit Biotype Profile
Informant Score Breakdown
Foundational Evidence & Task-Based Biomarkers
Our subtyping framework synthesizes landmark peer-reviewed literature across RDoC domains:
Proves that pgACC desynchronization during N-back cognitive load serves as an objective biomarker predicting rapid antidepressant response to ketamine.
Identifies baseline rACC/sgACC abnormalities driving negative bias, and uses Probabilistic Reward Tasks (PRT) to measure blunted dopamine reinforcement learning.
Uses task fMRI to delineate 6 distinct circuit biotypes, formally defining the Frontoparietal Cognitive Biotype (~27% of MDD cases; JAMA Netw Open 2023).
Demonstrates whole-blood transcriptomic signatures (5,746 DEGs) proving TRD is a distinct molecular subtype linked to immune gene regulation and central fatigue.
Frictionless Referral Pathway for Your Practice
Because we operate as a direct-pay practice, your referred clients skip months of insurance pre-authorization delays, peer-to-peer reviews, and step-therapy mandates. We provide immediate intake, transparent fee schedules prior to evaluation, and itemized superbills for out-of-network claims.
Copyable Outreach & Communication Assets
Use these pre-formatted email and outreach templates for direct patient inquiries or professional referral partner outreach.