About Me

I am a board certified psychiatrist and a psychotherapist. I am interested in helping others discover and create more emotionally enriched and personally rewarding lives, and this interest has led me to pursue learning or training in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, and psychoanalysis.

I value sensitivity toward individual and group differences, including issues related to race, ethnicity and culture, family and relationship situation, socioeconomic status, identified gender, sexuality, age, and ability. I have worked with many people from diverse backgrounds and with a wide spectrum of personal, psychological, or psychiatric issues. I recognize that these individual-level issues are very often intertwined with larger social and political issues, such as various forms of institutional and structural prejudice, bias, power dynamics, and related issues.

 
 

Education

Pomona College Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Neuroscience

Chicago Medical School Doctor of Medicine (MD)

Harvard / Cambridge Health Alliance Psychiatry Residency

 

Experience and Training

For those who are interested, here are some more details about my experience and training. I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Issues: Here are some of the issues that people bring to me and that I work with: difficulties with satisfaction or fulfillment in career, work, relationships or creative pursuits; problems with mood, anxiety, depression or related difficulties; insomnia and sleep problems; mental “blocks” or “stuckness”, and problems focusing; performance anxiety or “pressure”; preoccupations or obsessive thoughts; difficulties breaking certain habits; issues with self-esteem or confidence; questions, issues, or problems surrounding identity (of any kind); issues surrounding self-image, body-image; questions about what it means or feels like to be yourself, in your own body and experience; dissociative or depersonalized experiences; difficulties with socializing, or being in relationship with others; family or social conflict; major life transitions; loss and grieving; trauma; death of family or loved ones; emotions and experiences relating to climate change, war, political and social conflict; addictive behaviors and related patterns of thought and emotion; problems with anger or frustration.

Psychiatry: I trained at a residency program focused on extensive psychopharmacology and psychotherapy training, community health, serving under-resourced communities, and integrated/collaborative care (across professions/specialties and levels of care). I have experience working with people with a wide range of psychiatric diagnoses and situations, including psychologically-, socially-, and medically-complex or high-risk situations. I also have experience using a wide range of psychiatric medications to help people manage their diagnoses or symptoms, which can help in the process of personal growth. I have a healthy understanding of both the advantages and the disadvantages/limits of the modern DSM-5 diagnostic classification system. I welcome the opportunity to work with other care providers in a team-based approach, if you want this, and when it is helpful.

Therapy: I have training and experience working with the following types of psychotherapies, and an understanding of their theoretical and practical foundations:

  • Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic therapy

  • Trauma-focused therapies

  • Cognitive behavioral therapies, ERP, and mindfulness techniques

  • Mentalization based therapy

  • Dialectical behavior therapy

  • Motivational interviewing

  • Play therapy with children

  • Internal family systems therapy

  • Couples therapy and the Gottman method

Neuroscience: I have studied and researched the neuroscience of metaphor processing and of emotions, with particular focus on the amygdala, limbic circuitry, mood, fear, anxiety, aggression, and affiliation. I have worked at or in affiliation with various neuroscience laboratories, including at the Laboratory of Neurobiology and Behavior (The Rockefeller University), The Brain and Creativity Institute (USC), the Rosenkranz lab (Chicago Medical School), and in conjunction with Dr. Louis Cozolino (Pepperdine University). I have given various research poster presentations, educational talks, and published peer reviewed manuscripts on these topics.

Publications:

  • Adams T, Rosenkranz JA. Social Isolation During Postweaning Development Causes Hypoactivity of Neurons in the Medial Nucleus of the Male Rat Amygdala. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2016 Jun;41(7):1929-40. PMID 26677945.

  • Borelli E, Butera C, Katirai A, Adams TCE, Aziz-Zadeh L. Impact of motor stroke on novel and conventional action metaphor comprehension. Brain and Language. 2022 Mar;226:105081. PMID 35051790.

  • Adams TCE, Lim CT, Huang H. The Practice of Psychiatric e-Consultation: Current State and Future Directions. Harvard Review of Psychiatry. 2022 May-Jun;30(3):191-197.