“Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack, a crack, in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.”
― Leonard Cohen
What are ACEs — adverse childhood experiences?
The CDC-Kaiser Permanente’s Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE Study) links 10 types of childhood trauma with the adult onset of chronic disease, mental illness and violence.
The 10 ACEs are: physical, sexual, emotional abuse; physical, emotional neglect; living with a family member who’s addicted to alcohol or other drugs, is depressed, has other mental illness or who’s imprisoned; witnessing a mother’s abuse; divorce or separation.
For people who have four types of childhood adversity — an ACE score of 4 — alcoholism risk increases 700 percent; attempted suicide increases 1200 percent. Heart disease and cancer nearly double. People with high ACE scores have more marriages, more broken bones, more depression, more prescription drug use, more obesity. [1]
“Trauma is a psychic wound that hardens you psychologically and then interferes with your ability to grow and develop. It pains you and now you’re acting out of pain. It induces fear and now you’re acting out of fear. Trauma is not what happens to you, it’s what happens inside you as a result of what happened to you. Trauma is that scarring that makes you less flexible, more rigid, less feeling and more defended.”
— Gabor Maté
What are PCEs — positive childhood experiences?
Although there is still much to learn about ACEs and how to prevent and mitigate their effects, we also all know that childhood experiences are not limited to those that involve adversity. All childhood experiences matter. In the last few years, researchers have started to examine the impacts of positive childhood experiences (PCEs) on children and adults.
In 2019, a team of researchers — Dr. Christina Bethell, Jennifer Jones, Dr. Narangerel Gombojav, Dr. Jeff Linkenbach and Dr. Robert Sege — found a dose-response association between positive childhood experiences and adult mental and relationship health among adults who had experienced ACEs, irrespective of how many ACEs they had. This means that it’s really important to have positive childhood experiences, no matter how much adversity you have in your life. And if you have a lot of adversity and a lot of positive childhood experiences, you are less likely to suffer the consequences of ACEs. However if you have no positive childhood experiences and few ACEs, the consequences of the ACEs are more likely to appear. [2]
Remember this: ACE scores don't tally the positive experiences in early life that can help build resilience and protect a child from the effects of trauma. Having a grandparent who loves you, a teacher who understands and believes in you, or a trusted friend you can confide in may mitigate the long-term effects of early trauma, psychologists say. [3]
To find out what positive childhood experiences you have, answer the following questions.
How much or how often during your childhood did you:
feel able to talk to your family about feelings;
feel your family stood by you during difficult times;
enjoy participating in community traditions;
feel a sense of belonging in high school;
feel supported by friends;
have at least two non-parent adults who took genuine interest in you; and
feel safe and protected by an adult in your home. [2]
"There are people with high ACE scores who do remarkably well," says Jack Shonkoff, a pediatrician and director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University.
Resilience, he says, builds throughout life, and close relationships are key. Recent research also suggests that for adults, "trauma informed" therapy — which can centre on art, yoga or mindfulness training, among other things — can help. [3]
Bibliography
[1] Maté, G., 2021. Wisdom of Trauma Companion Booklet. pp.1 & 6.
[2] ACEs Too High. 2021. What ACEs/PCEs do you have?. [online] Available at: <https://acestoohigh.com/got-your-ace-score/> [Accessed 19 July 2021].
[3] Npr.org. 2021. Take The ACE Quiz — And Learn What It Does And Doesn't Mean. [online] Available at: <https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/03/02/387007941/take-the-ace-quiz-and-learn-what-it-does-and-doesnt-mean> [Accessed 19 July 2021].
