Hi Donna,

Your book is very timely. Well done! You stated that it takes 20 years to re-write the biological impact of toxic stress; I'm curious if you came across particular modalities, interventions or combinations of interventions (medical and social/emotional, integrated, holistic etc.) which tended to be most successful? Does the timeline of healing begin when a person actively begins seeking their own healing, or does it also happen passively once the stressor has ended?

I'm also curious about any cross-over between ACE's and trauma-informed healthcare that you've encountered and would care to share about.

Ultimately, if an individual is given the resources needed to heal are our bodies resilient enough to become cleared of our trauma-impact (in your opinion)?

I look forward to reading your book. -e

All this talk of early mortality is premature for me I am late to this party.   I have an ACE score of 8.  I am almost 60. That said I thank my lucky stars I found this community.   

Cissy, 

In terms of recovery, I've found huge benefits from a variety of practices. Tai chi as a movement practice has been transformative. Sitting meditation and breath work have created space to catch emotions in the moment and manage relationships more successfully. Journaling and reflection have helped me dig deeper into underlying fears behind trigger events. Most recently, I've explored the use of therapy balls to perform self massage. See http://www.therollmodel.com/. Body work has a profound emotional impact as, not surprisingly, we carry our past in tension. Releasing that tension helps us process the emotion as well. 

Chris

Cis you raise such important insights and questions here. I'm so glad to have the opportunity to share this space with you and ask these questions and have you share your wisdome. I'm very interested in parenting for resiliency and just wrote a piece for Fearless Parents about this -- which I'll post here tomorrow. It's just touches at the beginning of what we need to know. When we have a history of ACEs we so very much want our children to grow up safe and adversity free. We know that some of ACE intergenerational biology is mobile, which is daunting to hear. It is for me. I think that having a history of adversity forces us to be more mindful parents, which also enhances our own journey to healing. Trying not to over or underreact as a parent has led me to deeper places of self-wisdom. But it has led to errors and mistakes, no doubt. So what do we know collectively about how to respond (yes, in the moment) with the right words, the right response, to help our children?

I'm also interested in healing strategies -- to reclaim a legacy of wellness and longevity and joy -- as you know I filled my book with them.

So -- I'm open to ideas about how best to start a few of these discussions here as this community grows. I'll post the Fearless Parent article I did tomorrow to start -- Cis please cross-post some of your beautiful blogs here?

I'm so glad to be a part of this community. I"m particularly interested in the break-the-cycle parenting and the resources parents find. I heard that On Being interview with Rachel Yehuda about the epigenetic expression of PTSD. I wonder if research has been done on kids adopted and who have parents with PTSD) like I do to tease out what's behavior driven vs. genetics. I parent defensively, with the past as my backdrop, more than I would like. 

Also, I'm interested in any and all research (and love what's in your book) about what helps reverse some of the risk factors for those with ages scores of 6 or higher to get some of those 19 years of early mortality lost back. I saw a functional medicine practitioner that gave me some tests, vitamins, supplements after finding out about the ACE test and my score. I'm curious about the research and if there are any people with a score of 7,8, 9 and 10 living well and into old age.

Cissy

Welcome Jed, I admire your work greatly. Thanks for sharing your wise thoughts here, and feel free to post your recent article on men and relationships -- I think we'd all like to read it!

Donna and all, 

This is such important work. I'm a therapist, marriage and family counselor, and have followed the ACE research since it first came out. As someone with an ACE score of 4, I've seen first hand how these early wounds follow us throughout our lives. They've certainly contributed to my depression, heart issues, prostate problems, and my two marriages that ended in divorce. I'd always felt somewhat ashamed and confused that so many relationships fell apart, including my own, even though we seemed to know so much about good marriage counseling. Before starting over again, I vowed to get to the heart of why marriages failed. Understand my early experiences and trauma provided the missing links. My third wife (third marriage for her as well, with her own ACE scores of 4-5) and I have now been together for 36 years. We continue to learn and to heal.

I look forward to sharing ideas. I read your book and was particularly interested in the different ways that men and women deal with early trauma. I've found that ACEs are key issues in why so many relationships fall apart, despite two people who love and care for each other. But with this knowledge we can heal so many of our physical, emotional, and relational problems.

May we learn and share together.