About
Thomas E. Brown, PhD
Thomas E. Brown, PhD is a clinical psychologist who received his Ph.D. from Yale University. He specializes in assessment & treatment of high-IQ children, adolescents & adults with ADHD & related problems.
For over 30 years, Dr. Brown maintained an independent clinical practice in Hamden, CT. He also served as Associate Director of the Yale Clinic for Attention & Related Disorders from its inception, until 2017, when he re-located to California and opened the Brown Clinic for Attention and Related Disorders.
After serving on the clinical faculty of the Yale Medical School for 20 years, Dr. Brown resigned to accept an appointment as Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. He has resigned from this position and currently is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine
In response to invitations, Dr. Brown has given lectures, workshops or grand rounds at hospitals, medical schools, colleges and universities, independent schools, public school systems, and at advocacy, business and professional groups throughout the United States. He has also presented workshops at international meetings of professionals in over 40 countries.
Dr. Brown’s research interests and publications include assessment and treatment of ADD/ADHD, especially in persons with high IQ; executive function and memory impairments in ADD; overlap of ADD and learning disorders, use of combined medications for ADD comorbidities, and problems of sleep and awakening in ADD.
For his research and teaching about ADHD Dr. Brown received an award of honor by the National Attention Deficit Disorder Association and a Distinguished Professional award from the HELP Group in Los Angeles. He has been inducted into the CHADD Hall of Fame for outstanding contributions to research and professional education about ADHD in children and adults. He has also been elected a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.
He has published more than 30 scientific articles in professional journals and is author of the Brown Executive Function/Attention Rating Scales (formerly: The Brown Attention Deficit Disorder Scales) published by The Psychological Corporation/Pearson.
He is the author of 6 books and the editor for ADHD Comorbidities: Handbook for ADHD Complications in Children and Adults, a major text and reference work published by American Psychiatric Publishing.
Publications
ADHD and Asperger Syndrome in Smart Kids and Adults: 12 Stories of Struggle, Support and Treatment.
ADHD and Asperger Syndrome in Smart Kids and Adults offers detailed examples of 12 individuals who have above-average cognitive intelligence, but struggle with executive function impairments of ADHD and significant social-emotional impairments of Asperger syndrome. Case examples are followed by updated, science-based descriptions of these disorders.
Outside the Box:
Rethinking ADHD in Children & Adults - A Practical Guide
Identifies assumptions about ADD/ADHD that demand reevaluation in light of recent research. Building upon a current, science-based foundation, the book describes in practical terms how ADHD can be recognized at various ages; how it differs from more typical brain development; how it can significantly impair those affected; and how it can safely, and in most cases effectively, be treated in children and adults.
Smart but Stuck:
Emotions in Teens & Adults
with ADHD
Explains how and why many with ADHD get stuck in their schooling, employment and relationships due to emotional problems they did not know they have. It describes how emotions –positive and negative, often unconsciously–play a critical role in prioritizing tasks, sustaining or shifting interest and effort, holding thoughts in working memory, and choosing to engage in or avoid tasks and situations. True stories of teens and adults illustrate how those with ADHD can get “unstuck” from emotional problems that are holding them back (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2014)
Attention Deficit Disorder:
The Unfocused Mind
in Children and Adults
Introduces and describes the six clusters of Brown’s model of ADHD as impaired executive functions and illustrates these with many examples of how these difficulties appear in daily life during childhood, adolescence and adulthood. It explains how the brain works in managing executive functions and how these change during development. It also explains how ADD/ADHD differs from normal inattention, other disorders that often accompany ADHD, and what treatments are effective. (Yale University Press, 2005). Also available in Chinese, Dutch, Japanese, Portuguese, Turkish and Spanish.
A New Understanding of ADHD in Children and Adults: Executive Function Impairments
Offers and explains a new working definition of ADHD. It also describes 35 myths about ADHD and why they are wrong. Chapters explain recent research that supports the new model of ADHD, implications of that research for assessment and effective treatment, and why so many of those with ADHD also suffer from other disorders of learning, emotion or behavior (Routledge, 2013).
ADHD Comorbidities: Handbook for ADHD Complications in Children and Adults
An edited textbook in which Dr. Brown and 33 expert contributors offer describe how ADHD is different when accompanied by various co-occurring disorder.
(American Psychiatric Publishing, 2009).