ACE

  • More Proof That Early Interventions Are Key

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 3 minutes

    So, when I see a study like this, I don’t feel defeated, I don’t feel like we are all just broken and doomed to poorer outcomes. I see the possibility that there is room to change this current reality, but it’s going to take changing how we deal with childhood adversity and doing it in an open, honest, and immediate way.

    High levels of childhood adversity don’t have to be an early death sentence. We can, and should, intervene early in order to prevent many of these outcomes. We just need the determination and will to make it happen.

    Do we have that?

  • Is There a Hole in the ACE study?

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 4 minutes

    I’ve written before about the ACE studies and surveys, and if you’ve read those you know that I think everything about ACE scores needs to be taken with a grain of salt. However, until my wife shared this news article from her alma mater I had not noticed that the question about childhood sexual abuse is somewhat more specific than it should be. Apparently, Robyn Dolson noticed it too, and decided to use her thesis work investigating why, and how it impacts the results. In short, the question about sexual abuse refers to being abused by an adult or someone 5 years or older than you.

    As many of us can attest, that leaves out quite a few survivors who were abused by someone in their peer, or a slightly older, group, which happens quite frequently.

  • Sharing – Why Adolescence Matters in Preventing Substance Abuse

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 2 minutes

    The reality is, even if a kid has had severe trauma in their life, there are things we can do, immediately, that can lower the chances of this trauma impacting them later in life. Things like getting them support, positive role models and experiences, and actively getting them involved in healing can make a huge difference.

  • Sharing – Happy childhood? That’s no guarantee for good mental health

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 1 minute

    This study out of Australia confirms something I’ve written about many times in regards to things like the ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) study: While the study reaffirmed that people who had adverse and unpredictable early life experiences had elevated symptoms of poor mental health (including depression and paranoia), it also found that children who grew…

  • Sharing – Population vs Individual Prediction of Poor Health From Results of Adverse Childhood Experiences Screening

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Now, here comes a study, linked below, that has done the real scientific research and found:

    “ACE scores can forecast mean group differences in later health problems; however, ACE scores have poor accuracy in identifying individuals at high risk for future health problems.”

    Yes, there are statistics that show that there’s an impact at the societal level from childhood trauma. We should be addressing those issues as a society, things like child poverty, parents in the prison system, abuse, neglect, etc. because we know that as we lessen those impacts on kids, and make resources available for the kids who’s trauma we can’t prevent, we can impact the overall increases in depression, addiction, crime rates, etc. that are a direct result of childhood trauma. But, at an individual level, these things aren’t fate. How one person navigates trauma and is impacted by it, is not going to come down to just the number of traumas they dealt with as a child. When we identify one person with 4 or more ACEs according to the survey, all that really tells us is that it’s basically 50-50 whether or not they are depressed, or there’s a close to 30% chance they’ve used illicit drugs, but a 70% chance they haven’t. One person is not going to neatly fit every category and shouldn’t be treated as if they do. 

  • Sharing – Seven Early Experiences with Potential Benefits in Adulthood

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 1 minute

    I have to admit, before seeing this article, I didn’t know much about Positive Childhood Experiences (PCE) either, let alone that someone was studying their effect on adulthood, and possibly on counteracting the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE). This study seems to suggest that these things can help: Below are the seven items on…