Trauma and Its Impact on Health
ACE Study
Our childhood experiences have a strong influence on the health and well-being we experience as adults. The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study was a longitudinal study funded by the United States Center for Disease Control, and Kaiser Permanente. They examined the patterns of adverse childhood experiences and later life well-being. More than 17,000 people were recruited in the mid-nineties for the study and they have been followed ever since.
The study has proven that there is a significant link between adverse childhood experiences and health and social issues in adulthood.
ACE is a tool that assesses a person’s adverse childhood experiences by asking 10 questions. The person gets a score between 0 & 10. As the ACE score increases, so does the person’s risk for chronic disease. With a score of 4 or higher, a person’s risk for certain health issues increases–such as diabetes, heart problems, mental health issues, cancer, addiction, etc.
*It’s important to note that the ACE study involved mostly white, middle-class, college educated people who had health care coverage through Kaiser Permanente insurance.
The Nervous System and Trauma
It is important to know a little about the biology of trauma, as it can support us to understand how we can avoid retraumatizing people.
Trauma is stored both in our conscious and subconscious. The memory lives in the body and the brain. We have evolved to survive and learn from situations that hurt us, as a means of protection. However, the trauma response is extremely taxing on the body and overall health if it is engaged regularly.
We humans are complicated. The science of trauma, including why one person experiences Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following a traumatizing event and another person doesn’t, isn’t definitive. However, there are some well-accepted theories.
As we mentioned earlier in this module, a common theory is that a person is more likely to experience trauma after a traumatizing event if they feel threatened, helpless and alone in a way that overwhelms their ability to cope and affects their sense of self. Some experts say that the more support a person has during the time following a traumatizing event, the less likely they are to experience PTSD.
The American Psychological Association webpage Children and Trauma Update for Mental Health Professionals, says this:
On a positive note, individual, family, cultural, and community strengths can facilitate recovery and promote resilience. Social, community, and governmental support networks are critical for recovery, particularly when an entire community is affected, as when natural disasters occur. (2011)
There is no rule as to what constitutes a traumatizing event. The trauma might be directly caused by another person, a system, an accident, some kind of natural disaster, etc. For example, some people have managed fine throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and depending on their circumstances, othe