This is an exclusive BHB+ article
While mental health treatment has advanced significantly over the past century, many individuals still struggle with treatment-resistant conditions that don’t respond to traditional medications and therapy.
As a result, many providers and patients are turning to interventional psychiatry as a potential breakthrough.
Interventional psychiatry encompasses specialized treatments for treatment-resistant behavioral health conditions, including transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), deep brain stimulation (DBS) and novel medications like ketamine and esketamine.
Providers and investors have taken note. Earlier this week, VC giant General Catalyst led a $50 million investment round in Radial, an interventional psychiatry provider.
“There is a huge amount of interest [in interventional psychiatry],” Sherry Rais, the CEO and co-founder of Enthea, said at Behavioral Health Business’ INVEST Conference in Nashville. “There is more education and awareness, not just about how effective these treatments are, but how ineffective the traditional approach is.”
Enthea offers health plans for interventional psychiatry methods.
For providers, it offers the potential for new services and better ways to care for patients. And for patients with a history of failed treatment, it poses a potential answer.
Yet getting these treatments covered by payers is still a significant barrier to care. Many payers require patients to have a history of failed treatment before reimbursing for these interventions.
But I think that could be changing as providers continue to build a case for the treatments’ value and demonstrate cost savings. Instead of a last resort, I could see these interventions becoming a larger part of mainstream care.
In this BHB+ Update, I will take a closer look at:
– The headlines driving the interventional psychiatry movement
– Why at-home treatment could play a role in the future of interventional psychiatry
– What payer policies could change when covering new treatments
In the news
Interventional psychiatry companies have had a few major wins to close out 2025. For starters, earlier this week, New York City-based Radial announced a $50 million Series A round to expand its interventional psychiatry services model and underlying tech.
The company, which already operates in six states, is looking to use the fresh capital to expand its footprint and partner with more clinics, particularly outpatient clinics.
“I don’t think we have a strong point of view on markets that we’d avoid,” Radial CEO and co-founder John Capecelatro told my colleague Chris Larson earlier this week. “In fact, it’s quite the opposite. We can do this in a broadly scalable and accessible way anywhere. So the question is, how do we sequence that growth relative to where we’ve already built and relative to how quickly we want to move?”
What’s interesting about this deal is the large funding amount for a Series A company and the big-name VCs placing bets on it. In addition to General Catalyst, its investors include Solari Capital, JSL Health Capital, Founder Collective, BoxGroup, Scrub Capital and Diede van Lamoen.
The deal signals that interventional psychiatry services are becoming a more mainstream bet, and I think we can expect more venture – and maybe even PE dollars – to flow into this space.
But investment isn’t the only space where the sector has seen some recent wins. For example, this morning (Dec. 11), U.K.-based Flow Neuroscience landed FDA premarket approval for its at-home neurostimulations for treating depression.
This could be a big win for interventional psychiatry. One of the major barriers to access to other modes of neurostimulation, such as TMS, is the expense and the time commitment.
“Flow’s FDA approval is a watershed moment for the treatment of depression: the first step in moving from pharmaceutical treatments to tech-based therapies with minimal side effects,” Erin Lee, CEO of Flow Neuroscience, said in a statement about the technology.
And Flow Neuroscience isn’t the only company working on at-home brain stimulation devices; Neurolief, which currently has FDA clearance for at-home migraine treatment, is also pursuing regulatory clearance for behavioral health conditions.
“In-home TMS or remote neuromodulation could expand access for patients with mild to moderate depression, potentially preventing progression to more severe, treatment-resistant forms,” Dr. Richard Bermudes, chief medical officer of BrainsWay, told my colleague Ashleigh Hollowell recently. “Hybrid models, combining in-clinic initiation with at-home follow-up, may be a practical bridge to broader access while maintaining safety and efficacy.”
BrainsWay is a TMS technology provider that recently made a $5 million convertible loan in Neurolief.
The future of interventional psychiatry
This could be a prime time for the expansion of interventional psychiatry as public interest around alternatives to behavioral health medications rises.
For example, the White House’s Make America Healthy Again report includes certain SSRIs among medications it characterizes as overprescribed to children, arguing that interventions lacking evidence of benefit over placebo are inherently harmful.
Though it is important to note that this report had some pushback from the medical community.
Still, the move away from traditional medications can also be seen in the rise in startups like Outro, which helps individuals taper off antidepressants.
However, even with growing interest in alternative therapeutics for behavioral health conditions, payment remains the primary obstacle for patients. Take TMS, for example. While most major commercial payers cover TMS, they typically require patients to document multiple failed therapeutic interventions first. Similarly, Medicare does cover TMS after several unsuccessful attempts at traditional treatment.
It’s important to note there are some highlights in the payer space. More payers, such as Evernorth, are covering TMS for adolescent members.
Even so, I wonder if this model will shift as more and more research shows the efficacy of TMS and other forms of interventional psychiatry. For example, a 2023 UCLA study found that more than half of patients with major depressive symptoms exhibited a clinical response in mood symptoms when treated with TMS.
If some modes of interventional psychiatry are more effective than traditional treatments, I could foresee payers eventually covering these treatments as first line of care instead of a last resort.
And with more at-home treatments coming to market, I could foresee the cost of care falling substantially. Of course, if the current system were to change, it would likely take patients and providers advocating.
“In order to change our mental health system, I think there needs to be patients demanding more from psychiatry,” Dr. Eugene Lipov, the co-founder and chief medical officer at Stella Mental Health, said during INVEST. “What does it mean that you can provide fast, effective, improved care to patients? It’s not complicated. … I think a big push where insurance companies can lean on psychiatry and APA, saying these modalities are working, will move the needle on some level there. I think that will work.”
Stella Mental Health is an interventional psychiatry provider that offers TMS, esketamine and other treatments.