How Does Childhood Trauma Manifest Later In Life? What can you do about it?
By Dr. Betsy Usher
There are many different ways that childhood trauma can manifest in later years of life; such as interpersonal relationships, addictions, job choice and success, family dynamics, and lifestyle choices.
I’m going to talk about the ACE Test, because it is incredibly researched information that will blow your mind.
What is the ACE Test?
ACE stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences.
There are 10 Questions they ask about your childhood. However, they have recently added more regarding your environment outside of home (school, neighborhood, bulling, ect).
What does the ACE Test report?
The ace test is about 10 types of childhood trauma measures that lead to physical health issues in later adult years, as well as social and emotional issues. Again, this is loaded with research.
10 Measures:
Did a parent or other adult in the household often or very often… Swear at you, insult you, put you down, or humiliate you? or Act in a way that made you afraid that you might be physically hurt?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __Did a parent or other adult in the household often or very often… Push, grab, slap, or throw something at you? or Ever hit you so hard that you had marks or were injured?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __Did an adult or person at least 5 years older than you ever… Touch or fondle you or have you touch their body in a sexual way? or Attempt or actually have oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse with you?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __Did you often or very often feel that… No one in your family loved you or thought you were important or special? or Your family didn’t look out for each other, feel close to each other, or support each other?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __Did you often or very often feel that… You didn’t have enough to eat, had to wear dirty clothes, and had no one to protect you? or Your parents were too drunk or high to take care of you or take you to the doctor if you needed it?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __Were your parents ever separated or divorced?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __Was your mother or stepmother…
Often or very often pushed, grabbed, slapped, or had something thrown at her? or Sometimes, often, or very often kicked, bitten, hit with a fist, or hit with something hard? or Ever repeatedly hit for over at least a few minutes, or threatened with a gun or knife?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __Did you live with anyone who was a problem drinker or alcoholic, or who used street drugs?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __Was a household member depressed or mentally ill, or did a household member attempt suicide? No___If Yes, enter 1 __
Did a household member go to prison?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __
Now add up your “Yes” answers: _ This is your ACE Score
There is a shocking link between your score… and chronic health issues in adult years. A score of 4 or more seems to be where it gets more intense such as autoimmune diseases (20 % more), over eating, cancer (twice as likely), drug addictions, heart issues, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, lung disease (390 % higher), depression/anxiety (240% higher), mental health issues as a whole, including suicide (1,220% higher), and so on.
As you can see, when you get to 4 or more, your chances for some of these illnesses go up a TON.
These adverse childhood experiences affect our bodies, brains, cells, even our DNA!
For the brain, when it is chronically stressed it shrinks the hippocampus (emotions, memory, stress), grey matter (emotional regulation & decision making in the prefrontal cortex), and the amygdala (emotional relay center and fear).
These children’s brains literally change, making it more difficult to regulate stress—being more sensitive, and dysregulated.
Therefore, we are likely to perceive things that happen in our day to day lives as more stressful than a person with a 0 ACE score. So, we are still chronically stressed………UGH!!
We also now know that chronic stress in children leads to inflammation in the body, which is CRAZY HUGE news!
Don’t lose all hope though.
There is research that says 1 in 10 children from these childhood experiences will rise above, make a life goal mission of some kind and overcome with resiliency, grit, determination, and success.
In fact… many, many, many… successful people, including presidents, have ACE scores, and they have overcome these awful experiences with resilience.
There is a test online that shows your resiliency score.
I usually end on a hopeful note, but this one is hard. It’s unfair, tragic, bullshit, and insane that we would suffer through our childhood, teenage years, and then be physically sick in our end years.
All we can do is encourage people to learn how to parent better; model healthy relationships for them, spread the word. How to be better parents, so that our children don’t carry on the line that has been passed down for generations and generations, like in our families. Because this is passed down.
We have to end this cycle, relearn how to parent; to love, connect, be less stressed… and seek healthy relationships.
I believe we can. 💛 I do.