Vim & Vigor - Fall 2020 - GMC - 38

Fact or Fiction

THE TRUTH ABOUT

Adverse
Childhood
Experiences
EVENTS FROM OUR YOUTH CAN HAUNT
US, BOTH MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY.
BUT TRAUMA CAN BE HEALED
BY MONIQUE CURET

ACE Scores and
Toxic Stress

A seminal study in the 1990s
defined the adverse childhood
experience score, a measure of
how much trauma a child has
suffered. The study found links
between adverse childhood
experiences and chronic disease
in adulthood.
The reason for the linkage
seems to be what is referred to as
"toxic stress," which is exposure
to intense, frequent or sustained
stress-an excessive activation of
the body's stress-response system. The effects are particularly
pronounced for children when
there is not adequate adult support available.
Toxic stress can cause changes
in many body systems:

Everyone can conjure up
a few unpleasant memories from childhood,
whether they involved kids on the
playground or parents at home.
But about two-thirds of U.S. adults
suffered traumatic events called
adverse childhood experiences, or
ACEs, before age 18. ACEs range
from household dysfunction to
abuse and neglect.
A landmark study from 1995
to 1997, which coined the term
"adverse childhood experiences,"
examined the relationship between
ACEs and health and well-being
later in life. Participants were
assigned an "ACE score" based on
how many of 10 types of adverse
experiences they reported.
"What they found was that the
higher the ACE score, the more
frequent the diseases were," ranging from sexually transmitted
infections to cancer and diabetes,
says Robert Block, MD, a past president of the American Academy of
Pediatrics and an expert on ACEs.
Subsequent research has confirmed
and built on those findings.
FALL 2020 VIM & VIGOR

Read on to learn more about
who is affected by adverse childhood experiences and how.

The impact of childhood
adversity is limited to
emotional effects.

FICTION. One of the most recognized impacts of ACEs is on behavior, but there are also evolving
ideas about physical effects, including growth impairment, Block
says. Repeated exposure to extreme
stress can lead to changes in the
endocrine system, which controls
growth and development. In fact,
exposure to what mental health
professionals call "toxic stress" can
leave lasting effects and changes
on many of the body's most crucial
control systems.
Of course, the emotional effects
of childhood adversity are also
significant. In children, they can
manifest as learning difficulties,
juvenile offending and suicidality.
In adolescents and adults,
depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress stemming from
childhood events can lead to

Nervous system, which controls
cognitive function, attention,
learning, self-regulation and
memory
Cardiovascular system, which
regulates blood pressure
Immune system, which can
be affected by chronic
inflammation from stress
Endocrine system, which regulates growth and development
People with six or more adverse
childhood experiences die
nearly 20 years earlier, on average, than people without ACEs,
research shows.

What's Your
ACE Score?

Curious about how your own
childhood events might affect
your life or health? Take the
adverse childhood experiences
quiz to find out: americanspcc.org/
take-the-aces-quiz.

http://www.americanspcc.org/take-the-aces-quiz http://www.americanspcc.org/take-the-aces-quiz

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