What are adverse childhood experiences and how do they impact us later in life?
In California, where I live and work as a sex and intimacy disorders specialist, there is a movement for mandatory adverse childhood experiences (ACES) assessment in all public and private medical and psychotherapeutic settings. So, regardless of an adult patient’s presenting issue(s) – medical, psychological, or both – clinicians would screen for childhood trauma. The reason for this push, which I strongly support, is that research clearly links early-life trauma, neglect, and other adverse experiences with adult-life medical, psychological, and intimacy issues.
What Is the ACES Screening?
The ACES test that we use in California screens for ten forms of childhood trauma – five personal, five familial.
Personal traumas:
- Physical abuse
- Verbal abuse
- Sexual abuse
- Physical neglect
- Emotional neglect
Familial traumas:
- Addiction
- Domestic violence
- Incarcerated family member
- Mental illness
- Divorce or abandonment
The ACES test is scored one through ten, with each type of trauma experienced counting as one point. So an individual with an alcoholic father and an early-life history of verbal abuse and emotional neglect would score three on the ACES screening.
[To read the rest of this article by Robert Weiss Ph.D., MSW, click here.]
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