“I chose University of Washington  and Seattle Children’s Hospital not just due to their sterling clinical reputation, but because this is my home and my community, and I wanted to practice here.”

A Seattle-area native, Dr. Jesse Adams grew up in University Place and Port Orchard, attending the University of Washington for undergraduate and medical school. He completed his adult psychiatry training at San Mateo County in California and his Neuropsychiatry & Behavioral Neurology fellowship at Stanford University. After spending five years in the San Francisco Bay Area, Dr. Adams found his way back home to the Pacific Northwest for his fellowship.

Currently a senior child and adolescent psychiatry fellow at Seattle Children’s Hospital, we’re excited to have Dr. Adams provide adult consultations in our Seattle office on Saturdays.

We know how stellar of a practitioner Dr. Adams is and so should you. We spoke to him about his background, his path to neuropsychiatry, and what excites him about the work we do at SeattleNTC.

Torn between neurology and psychiatry, Dr. Adams found a way to blend his passions in neuropsychiatry

“Many of us develop an attachment to or fascination with a particular part of medicine, and for me, it was the brain,” reveals Dr. Adams. Appreciating the complexity of the brain, he wanted to devote his career to its study.

“The brain is infinitely complex, and is the only organ that literally physically changes and develops in direct response to outside, non-physical influences – how you are raised, positive and negative experiences you’ve had, how people talk to you and relate to you.”

He ultimately leaned towards psychiatry due to his interests in how mental health conditions affect the development of the brain.

“TMS and ECT excite me for a pretty simple reason – they work, and work well, for many patients where medications and therapy have not.”

As we’re well aware, depression is a crushing illness for many. Like the rest of the team here at SeattleNTC, Dr. Adams is cognizant of the number of patients who suffer from depression, and see no results with therapy and antidepressants.

“For some, TMS and ECT can be life-changing, and sometimes life-saving, treatments, that can produce dramatic, lasting change for someone who has never responded to any other therapy. TMS, in particular, is incredibly adaptable, and as our understanding of the brain grows, there is the potential that this technology could help patients with a large variety of neuropsychiatric conditions.”

During our Saturday Clinics, you can expect Dr. Adams to focus on you and your needs.

The adult consultations typically take between 60 and 90 minutes and concentrate on determining whether either treatment makes sense for each patient. Dr. Adams will not only review the patient’s symptoms, their severity, their history with medication and therapy treatments, but also logistical hurdles and medical comorbidities which may influence the decision for each patient and family.

“I view my role as helping each to weigh the risks and benefits of both procedures against other conventional treatments available, and to help them make the best decision possible for them. If ECT or TMS is a fit, then we may review next steps so that treatment may occur as soon as possible. If not, then I also attempt to help provide thoughts for other treatment.”

We truly appreciate Dr. Adams taking time out of his busy schedule to help our patients. Feeling nervous and need an icebreaker? We hear Dr. Adams loves skiing and scuba diving!

Ready to book a consultation or have more questions for Dr. Adams and our team? Reach out to us today. We look forward to hearing from you!