The Adverse Childhood Experiences study (ACE) has played a huge part in helping to link childhood trauma with not just emotional and mental health, but physical health connections as well. The higher the ACE score of a survivor of abuse, the higher their risk of just about all health problems. This information is very important and much needed for everyone in the health professions to be more equipped to interrupt this trajectory with the compassionate and trauma sensitive interventions that can help slow down and even reverse a person’s health journey. Starting with more support for gentle non-invasive birthing bringing in true informed consent. Ending routine circumcision. Educating parents in peaceful parenting.
“Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains that the repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain. This unfolds across a lifetime, to the point where those who’ve experienced high levels of trauma are at triple the risk for heart disease and lung cancer. An impassioned plea for pediatric medicine to confront the prevention and treatment of trauma, head-on.”
My own ACE score is 9, the only factor it doesn’t include is imprisonment in the family. I did take a criminal case against my father for sexual and physical abuse in my twenties, but after working on it for 2 years it was thrown out, along with 99.7 % of sexual abuse or assault cases in Ireland back in the nineties. With an instinctive knowing that my health was in trouble as a result of all the trauma, I began my journey of physical healing at the same time as undertaking my emotional healing work. Overcoming addictions to alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana and unhealthy foods was part of the journey.
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