Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are known to cause multiple types of illnesses and early death later in life (Felitti et al., 1998). ACEs cause untold misery and heartache because they shake the very fundamental foundations of who we believe we are and how we perceive our world.
Much research has been done since the ACE study performed by Kaiser Permanente, overseen by Dr. Vincent Felitti, where more than 45,000 people were studied to measure how many adverse childhood experiences they had endured.
To better appreciate us who live with complex post-traumatic stress disorder it is vital to first understand how ACEs could have been avoided so we can keep them from perpetuating from our generation to the next.
This piece will introduce the research and how using HOPE can mitigate some of the adverse childhood experiences’ effects by exposure to positive childhood experiences.
Research on ACEs and a Child’s Brain
While Dr. Felitti was leading the ACEs study, a group of scientists studied the outcomes of an overload of stress hormones on the brains of children. Stress hormones are chemicals released into the brain to prepare the body for the fight/flight/freeze response to danger.
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