Most people have compassion for an abused or neglected child. However, many people have contempt for these same children when they are grown and suffer the consequences of that abuse or neglect. Depression, anxiety, personality disorders, impulse control problems and substance abuse are linked with adverse childhood experiences. When I explain the connection between adverse childhood experiences and these problems, I sometimes hear people say, “Well… I had a bad childhood and I pulled through.” They view the failure to recover from childhood trauma as a moral failure.
It isn’t. The ACE study (Adverse Childhood Experiences) shows that multiple adverse childhood experiences can change the brain and permanently alter both the physical and mental health. The ACE study is one of the largest of its kind ever, involving over 17,000 participants and spanning more than a decade. The ACE study was undertaken by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention in collaboration with Kaiser Permanente. The ACE study shows that there is a cumulative effect to adverse childhood experiences. For each additional adverse childhood event, the correlation to dysfunctions grows. For example, there is a 4 to 12 fold increase in the risk of substance abuse, depression and suicide attempts for those respondents reporting four or more categories of adverse childhood experiences. There is a physiological reason for these outcomes. According to scientists, “We now know from breakthroughs in neurobiology that ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) disrupt neurodevelopment and can have lasting effects on brain structure and function.”
Neuroscientists have linked childhood maltreatment–using experimental animal models as well as case-control studies in humans–to long-term changes in brain structure and function, involving several inter-connected brain regions including the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, corpus callosum, and cerebellum. Early stress is also associated with lasting alterations in stress-responsive neurobiological systems, including the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and monoamine neurotransmitter systems; these lasting effects on the developing brain would be expected to affect numerous human functions into adulthood including (but not limited to) emotional regulation, somatic signal processing (body sensations), substance abuse, sexuality, memory, arousal, and aggression.
The takeaway – prevention of harm to children should be a public health imperative. Not only would it prevent endless suffering it would eliminate costs to our health care and social services systems.
Comments (2)