What is PACEs science?
The science of PACEs refers to the research about the stunning effects of positive and adverse childhood experiences (PACEs) and how they work together to affect our lives, as well as our organizations, systems and communities. It comprises:
- The CDC-Kaiser Permanente ACE Study and subsequent surveys that show that most people in the U.S. have at least one ACE, and that people with four ACEs— including living with an alcoholic parent, racism, bullying, witnessing violence outside the home, physical abuse, and losing a parent to divorce — have a huge risk of adult onset of chronic health problems such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, suicide, and alcoholism.
- Brain science (neurobiology of toxic stress) — how toxic stress caused by ACEs damages the function and structure of kids’ developing brains.
- Health consequences — how toxic stress caused by ACEs affects short- and long-term health, and can impact every part of the body, leading to autoimmune diseases, such as arthritis, as well as heart disease, breast cancer, lung cancer, etc.
- Historical and generational trauma (epigenetic consequences of toxic stress) — how toxic stress caused by ACEs can alter how our DNA functions, and how that can be passed on from generation to generation.
- Positive Childhood Experiences and resilience research and practice — Building on the knowledge that the brain is plastic and the body wants to heal, this part of PACEs science includes evidence-based practice, as well as practice-based evidence by people, organizations and communities that are integrating trauma-informed and resilience-building practices. This ranges from looking at how the brain of a teen with a high ACE score can be healed with cognitive behavior therapy, to how schools can integrate trauma-informed and resilience-building practices that result in an increase in students’ scores, test grades and graduation rates.
1. What are ACEs?
ACEs are adverse childhood experiences that harm children’s developing brains and lead to changing how they respond to stress and damaging their immune systems so profoundly that the effects show up decades later. ACEs cause much of our burden of chronic disease, most mental illness, and are at the root of most violence.
“ACEs” comes from the CDC-Kaiser Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, a groundbreaking public health study that discovered that childhood trauma leads to the adult onset of chronic diseases, depression and other mental illness, violence and being a victim of violence, as well as financial and social problems. The ACE Study has published about 70 research papers since 1998. Hundreds of additional research papers based on the ACE Study have also been published.
The 10 ACEs the researchers measured:
— Physical, sexual and verbal abuse.
— Physical and emotional neglect.
— A family member who is:
- depressed or diagnosed with other mental illness;
- addicted to alcohol or another substance;
- in prison.
— Witnessing a mother being abused.
— Losing a parent to separation, divorce or other reason.
Subsequent to the ACE Study, other ACE surveys have expanded the types of ACEs to include racism, gender discrimination, witnessing a sibling being abused, witnessing violence outside the home, witnessing a father being abused by a mother, being bullied by a peer or adult, involvement with the foster care system, living in a war zone, living in an unsafe neighborhood, losing a family member to deportation, etc.
ACEs fall into three large categories:
- Adverse childhood experiences
- Adverse community experiences
- Adverse climate experiences
Resources:
Wikipedia — Adverse Childhood Experiences Study
The 10 ACE Questions (and 14 resilience survey questions)
The Pair of ACEs: The Soil in Which We’re Rooted, the Branches on Which We Grow
Why are ACEs significant?
1. The ACE Study revealed six main discoveries:
- ACEs are common…nearly two-thirds (64%) of adults have at least one.
- They cause adult onset of chronic disease, such as cancer and heart disease, as well as mental illness, violence and being a victim of violence
- ACEs don’t occur alone….if you have one, there’s an 87% chance that you have two or more.
- The more ACEs you have, the greater the risk for chronic disease, mental illness, violence and being a victim of violence. People have an ACE score of 0 to 10. Each type of trauma counts as one, no matter how many times it occurs. You can think of an ACE score as a cholesterol score for childhood trauma. For example, people with an ACE score of 4 are twice as likely to be smokers and seven times more likely to be alcoholic. Having an ACE score of 4 increases the risk of emphysema or chronic bronchitis by nearly 400 percent, and attempted suicide by 1200 percent. People with high ACE scores are more likely to be violent, to have more marriages, more broken bones, more drug prescriptions, more depression, and more autoimmune diseases. People with an ACE score of 6 or higher are at risk of their lifespan being shortened by 20 years.
- ACEs are responsible for a big chunk of workplace absenteeism, and for costs in health care, emergency response, mental health and criminal justice. So, the fifth finding from the ACE Study is that childhood adversity contributes to most of our major chronic health, mental health, economic health and social health issues.
- On a population level, it doesn’t matter which four ACEs a person has; the harmful consequences are the same. The brain cannot distinguish one type of toxic stress from another; it’s all toxic stress, with the same impact.
What’s particularly startling is that the 17,000 ACE Study participants were mostly white, middle- and upper-middle class, college-educated, and all had jobs and great health care (they were all members of Kaiser Permanente).
Resources:
ACE Study primer — KPJR Films, which came out with Paper Tigers in 2015 and Resilience in 2016, put together this five-minute overview of the ACE Study.
ACE Study video — Three-minute trailer for a four-hour CD of interviews with ACEs researchers produced by the Academy on Violence and Abuse.
How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime (16-minute TED Talk by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris)
Has anyone else done an ACE Study?
Thirty-six states and Washington, D.C. (infographic) have done one or more ACE surveys. Here are links to some of their reports (some states haven’t produced reports).
There are numerous other ACE surveys, including cities, such as Philadelphia; organizations, including the Crittenton Foundation; schools, including Spokane elementary schools; by pediatricians, including Dr. Nadine Burke Harris and Dr. Victor Carrion (2011 and 2013); several countries, including England, Saudi Arabia, and a World Health Organization ACE survey of university students in Romania,; and 64,000 juvenile offenders in the Florida juvenile justice system. You can find a list of ACE surveys, including expanded ACE surveys with more questions, in the Resources Section of ACEsConnection.com.
2. What’s the neurobiology of toxic stress?
Brain science shows that, in the absence of protective factors, toxic stress damages children’s developing brains. Stress is the body’s normal response to challenging events or environments. Positive stress — the first day of school, a big exam, a sports challenge — is part of growing up, and parents or caregivers help children prepare for and learn how to handle positive stress, which is moderate and doesn’t last long. It increases heart rate and the amount of stress hormones in the body, but they return to normal levels quickly.
But when events or the environment are threatening or harmful – we stumble across a bear in the woods – our brains instantly zap into fight, flight or freeze mode and bypass our thinking brains, which can be way too analytical to save us (Is the bear really mean? Is it more interested in berries or killing me? Should I wait until I see it charge?). With help from caring adults, children also recover from this tolerable stress.
Too much stress – toxic stress – occurs when that raging bear comes home from the bar every night, says pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris. Then a child’s brain and body will produce an overload of stress hormones — such as cortisol and adrenaline — that harm the function and structure of the brain. This can be particularly devastating in children, whose brains are developing at a galloping pace from before they are born to age three. Toxic stress is the kind of stress that can come in response to living for months or years with a screaming alcoholic father, a severely depressed and neglectful mother or a parent who takes out life’s frustrations by whipping a belt across a child’s body.
Resources:
Harvard University Center on the Developing Child
Video: Toxic Stress Derails Healthy Development (2 min)
An Unhealthy Dose of Stress (Center for Youth Wellness white paper)
The Science Behind PTSD Symptoms: How Trauma Changes the Brain
Brain Story Certification, Alberta Family Wellness Initiative
3. What are the health effects of toxic stress?
Chronic toxic stress—living in a red alert mode for months or years — can also damage our bodies. In a red alert state, the body pumps out adrenaline and cortisol continuously. Over time, the constant presence of adrenaline and cortisol keep blood pressure high, which weakens the heart and circulatory system. They also keep glucose levels high to provide enough energy for the heart and muscles to act quickly; this can lead to type 2 diabetes. Too much adrenaline and cortisol can also increase cholesterol.
Too much cortisol can lead to osteoporosis, arthritis, gastrointestinal disease, depression, anorexia nervosa, Cushing’s syndrome, hyperthyroidism and the shrinkage of lymph nodes, leading to the inability to ward off infections.
If the red alert system is always on, eventually the adrenal glands give out, and the body can’t produce enough cortisol to keep up with the demand. This may cause the immune system to attack parts of the body, which can lead to lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia.
Cortisol is also extremely important in maintaining the body’s appropriate inflammation response. In a normal response to a bee sting or infection, the body rushes antibodies, white blood cells and other cell fighters to the site and the tissues swell while the battle rages. But too much swelling damages tissue. Cortisol controls this fine balance. So without the mediating effects of cortisol, the inflammatory response runs amok and can cause a host of diseases.
If you’re chronically stressed and then experience an additional traumatic event, your body will have trouble returning to a normal state. Over time, you will become more sensitive to trauma or stress, developing a hair-trigger response to events that other people shrug off.
Biomedical researchers say that childhood trauma is biologically embedded in our bodies: Children with adverse childhood experiences and adults who have experienced childhood trauma may respond more quickly and strongly to events or conversations that would not affect those with no ACEs, and have higher levels of indicators for inflammation than those who have not suffered childhood trauma. This wear and tear on the body is the main reason why the lifespan of people with an ACE score of six or higher is likely to be shortened by 20 years.
Resources:
Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology and How You Can Heal, by Donna Jackson Nakazawa
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma, by Bessel Van Der Kolk
The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity, by Nadine Burke Harris, 2018.
Biologial Embedding of Early Social Adversity, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012
PubMed childhood adversity research publications
4. What’s epigenetics and how does that relate to historical or generational trauma?
Most people believe that the DNA we’re born with does not change and that it determines all that we are during our lifetime. That’s true, but the research from epigenetics — the study of how social and other environments turn our genes on and off — shows that toxic stress can actually change how our genes function, which can lead to long-term changes in all parts of our bodies and brains. What’s more, these changes can be transferred from generation to generation.
Epigenetics means “above the genome” and refers to changes in gene expression that are not the result of changes in the DNA sequence (or mutations).
Resources:
WhatIsEpigenetics.com — This New York-based blog and news aggregator covers the field of epigenetics and is funded by EpiGentek. It includes backgrounders, including epigenetics fundamentals.
Epigenetics — From the Genetics Science Learning Center at the University of Utah, this section includes explainers and an overview of how the social environment affects your epigenome.
Epigenetics 101: A beginner’s guide to explaining everything (TheGuardian.com, 2014)
5. Positive Childhood Experiences and resilience research: If you have a high ACE score, are you doomed? No!
The good news is that the brain is plastic, and the body wants to heal.
The brain is continually changing in response to the environment. If the toxic stress stops and is replaced by practices that build resilience, the brain can slowly undo many of the stress-induced changes.
There is well documented research on how individuals’ brains and bodies become healthier through mindfulness practices, exercise, good nutrition, adequate sleep, and healthy social interactions.
Here’s a good article that weaves the unified science of human development together: Scars That Don’t Fade, from Massachusetts General Hospital’s Proto Magazine.
In the last few years, researchers have started to examine the impacts of positive childhood experiences (PCEs) on children and adults. We at PACEs Connection are particularly interested in the interplay between positive and adverse childhood experiences. Here’s some of the relevant research:
- A team of researchers — Dr. Christina Bethell, Jennifer Jones, Dr. Narangerel Gombojav, Dr. Jeff Linkenbach and Dr. Robert Sege — published research in 2019 that found a dose-response association between positive childhood experiences — such as feeling like family stood by one during difficult times and feeling safe and protected by an adult in the home — and adult mental and relationship health among adults who had experienced ACEs, irrespective of how many ACEs they had. (Bethell and Sege are guest speakers in a PACEs Connection Better Normal webinar Friday, March 26, 2021 from 12 pm PT to 1 pm PT.) Positive Childhood Experiences and Adult Mental and Relational Health in a Statewide Sample: Associations Across Adverse Childhood Experiences Levels | JAMA Pediatrics.
- That same year, Bethell, Gombojav, and Dr. Robert Whitaker reported that at each level of ACEs, “the presence of flourishing increased in a graded fashion with increasing levels of family resilience and connection.” Family Resilience And Connection Promote Flourishing Among US Children, Even Amid Adversity | Health Affairs
- In 2014, Bethell, Dr. Paul Newacheck, Dr. Eva Hawes, and Dr. Neal Halfon found that children with higher ACE scores were less likely to demonstrate resilience, live in a protective home environment, have a mother who was healthy, and live in safe and supportive neighborhoods. However, almost half of the children who had experienced ACEs also demonstrated resilience, and “resilience mitigated the impact of adverse childhood experiences on grade repetition and school engagement.” Adverse Childhood Experiences: Assessing The Impact On Health And School Engagement And The Mitigating Role Of Resilience | Health Affairs
- In a study published in 2021, Whitaker, Dr. Tracy Dearth-Wesley, and Dr. Allison Herman wrote that “greater childhood family connection was associated with greater flourishing in US adults across levels of childhood adversity.” Childhood family connection and adult flourishing: associations across levels of childhood adversity – Academic Pediatrics (academicpedsjnl.net)
- Dr. Yui Yamaoka and Dr. David Bard reported in 2019 that “the number of adverse childhood experiences was associated with both social-emotional deficits and developmental delay risks in early childhood; however, positive parenting practices demonstrated robust protective effects independent of the number of adverse childhood experiences.” Positive Parenting Matters in the Face of Early Adversity – PubMed (nih.gov)
- Among juvenile offenders, Dr. Michael Baglivio and Dr. Kevin Wolff discovered in 2020 that “high ACE scores were associated with increased reoffending, and high PCE scores were associated with decreased recidivism, as measured by both rearrest and reconviction. Further, among juveniles with four or more ACEs who have six or more PCEs, reconviction was 23% lower and rearrest 22% lower when compared to those youth with four or more ACEs and less than six PCEs, controlling for a host of demographic and criminal history measures.” Positive Childhood Experiences (PCE): Cumulative Resiliency in the Face of Adverse Childhood Experiences – Michael T. Baglivio, Kevin T. Wolff, 2021 (sagepub.com)
- Dr. Michael Baxter, Dr. Eden Hemming, Dr. Heather McIntosh, and Dr. Chan Hellman published research in 2017 that demonstrated that higher ACEs scores were associated with lower hope in a study of caregivers who brought children in for a child abuse medical investigation at a child advocacy center. Exploring the Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Hope: Journal of Child Sexual Abuse: Vol 26, No 8 (tandfonline.com)
- In 2019, Dr. AliceAnn Crandall, Dr. Jacob Miller, Dr. Aaron Cheung, Dr. Lynneth Novilla, Dr. Rozalyn Glade, Dr. M. Lelinneth Novilla, Dr. Brianna Magnusson, Dr. Barbara Leavitt, Dr. Michael Barnes, and Dr. Carl Hanson observed in a study of adults that “higher counter-ACEs scores [i.e., positive childhood experiences] were associated with improved adult health and that counter-ACEs neutralized the negative impact of ACEs on adult health.”ACEs and counter-ACEs: How positive and negative childhood experiences influence adult health – ScienceDirect
- A study by Whitaker, Dearth-Wesley, and Herman in 2020 showed that across levels of childhood adversity, greater childhood family connection was associated with greater flourishing among young adults with type 1 diabetes. Childhood Family Connection With Flourishing in Young Adulthood Among Those With Type 1 Diabetes | Pediatrics | JAMA Network Open | JAMA Network
- Finally, in 2016, Bethell, Gombojav, Dr. Michele Solloway, and Dr. Lawrence Wissow examined ACEs, resilience, family protective factors, and emotional, mental or behavioral conditions (EMB) in children and youth in the U.S. The authors found that children with ACEs had higher EMB than children without ACEs, but the presence of resilience was significantly associated with lower amounts of EMB for both children with and without ACEs. In addition, the prevalence of EMB was lower when family protective factors were present, even if the child had ACEs, although the presence of two or more ACEs decreased the effect. Adverse Childhood Experiences, Resilience and Mindfulness-Based Approaches: Common Denominator Issues for Children with Emotional, Mental, or Behavioral Problems (nih.gov)
Who’s using PACEs science?
Many people, organizations, agencies, systems and communities are beginning to implement trauma-informed, resilience-building practices based on PACEs science.
- Pediatricians (here’s an update on the Children’s Clinic) and public health clinics are screening patients for ACEs. By the end of 2017, between 1,000 and 2,000 pediatricians had integrated ACEs screening into their practices. Here’s an article about Kaiser Permanente pediatricians in Northern California who have started screening kids for ACEs. Dr. Jeffrey Brenner, MacArthur genius award winner, recommends physicians adding ACE screening to measurement of other vital signs, such as blood pressure. A rural health clinic in Pueblo, CO, changed its medical practice after it integrated ACEs screening. A family physician in Tennessee educates his opioid patients about their ACEs, and it helps motivate them to heal themselves. The physician also understands that ACEs leads to damage that is chronic and, thus, he treats addictions as he does diabetes, as a chronic disease.
- Many schools — including schools in San Francisco, CA, Spokane, WA, San Diego, CA, and Walla Walla, WA — have integrated healing-centered/trauma-informed practices into classrooms, playgrounds and school policies. These schools have seen 90 percent drops in suspensions after one year; after three years, the schools no longer expel students and some no longer even have the need for in-school suspensions. The grades, test scores and graduation rates increased, and the students most benefitted were those with the highest ACE scores. By the end of 2017, several hundred schools across the U.S. were integrating trauma-informed and resilience-building practices based on ACEs science.
- Head Start (early childhood education program) in Kansas City has integrated trauma-informed practices in a program called Head Start Trauma Smart. (NYTimes article about the program.)
- Home-based early childhood intervention, such as Child First. (NYTimes article about the program.)
- Police departments and courts have integrated trauma-informed approaches. Safe Babies Courts have integrated PACEs science in resilience-building practices that provide wrap-around services for families; a year after participating in Safe Babies Courts, 99 percent of the children suffer no further abuse. Some prisons are beginning to educate inmates about PACEs science.
- Homeless shelters and the faith-based community are integrating practices based on PACEs research. At the heart of their approach is educating those who are homeless and people in rescue missions about PACEs science; it often changes their whole understanding of their behavior, because they realize that they weren’t born bad, that they had no control over what happened to them as children, that they coped appropriately, given what was available to them, and that they can change. Batterers intervention programs that have integrated PACEs science have reduced recidivism rates from what was accepted — 20 to 60 percent — to zero to four percent.
- Cities and states are integrating practices based on PACEs science. By the end of 2017, several hundred communities around the U.S. had launched PACEs initiatives. This report on self-healing communities describes how integrating ACEs science drastically reduced youth suicide, teen pregnancy, juvenile arrests, and high-school drop-out rates — all at the same time — in communities in Washington State that integrated practices based on PACEs science.
- Research on families shows that interventions — such as Nurse-Family Partnership, Healthy Steps, and Child First — can improve the lives of parents and children. Evidence-based parenting practices (Incredible Years, Triple P Parenting, etc.), increase the health of parents and children.
Resources:
Community Resilience Cookbook (nine case studies of cities and states that are integrating PACEs research)
Growing Resilient Communities provides guidelines and tools for communities to launch and grow local PACEs initiatives, and measure the progress of their work.
What does trauma-informed mean?
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAHMSA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a trauma-informed approach refers to how an organization or community thinks about and responds to children and adults who have experienced or may be at risk for experiencing trauma. In this approach, the whole community understands the prevalence and impact of ACEs, the role trauma plays in people’s lives, and the complex and varied paths for healing and recovery.
A trauma-informed approach asks: “What happened to you?” instead of “What’s wrong with you?” It is designed to avoid re-traumatizing already traumatized people, with a focus on “safety first” (including emotional safety), and a commitment to do no harm. But a trauma-informed approach is most successful when an organization or community builds policies and practices based on a foundation of ACEs science.
Resources:
SAMHSA overview of what trauma-informed is and isn’t
National Center for Trauma-Informed Care
SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach — Introduces a concept of trauma and offers a framework for how an organization, system, or service sector can become trauma-informed. Includes a definition of trauma (the three “E’s”), a definition of a trauma-informed approach (the four “R’s”), 6 key principles, and 10 implementation domains.
Any legislation or federal policies?
Updates on U.S. state and federal legislation can be found in the State ACEs Resolutions and Laws section of State PACEs Action on PACEsConnection.com. Some examples:
California legislature resolution to reduce ACEs
Massachusetts bill on trauma-informed schools
Vermont attempt to pass ACEs bill
Overview of state, federal legislation
US Department of Health and Human Services guidelines to state health directors (and the letter to state health directors)
All resources:
A Critical Assessment of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study at 20 Years (attached)
Wikipedia — Adverse Childhood Experiences Study
The 10 ACE Questions (and 14 resilience survey questions)
Harvard University Center on the Developing Child (neurobiology of toxic stress)
Alberta Family Wellness Initiative (Canada)
ACEsTooHigh.com – News site covering PACEs research and practices
PACEsConnection.com – Social network (with 18,000+ members across sectors) and more than 100 community sites that support ACEs initiatives in cities, counties, states, regions and nations.
WhatIsEpigenetics.com – News site covering epigenetics
Epigenetics — Explainers and backgrounders about epigenetics
National Center for Trauma-Informed Care
Community Resilience Cookbook — Nine case studies of cities and states that are integrating PACEs research)
SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach — Introduces a concept of trauma and offers a framework for how an organization, system, or service sector can become trauma-informed. Includes a definition of trauma (the three “E’s”), a definition of a trauma-informed approach (the four “R’s”), 6 key principles, and 10 implementation domains.
Videos:
ACE Study video (three minute trailer)
Video: Toxic Stress Derails Healthy Development (2 min)
How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime (16-minute TED Talk by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris)
Books:
Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology and How You Can Heal, by Donna Jackson Nakazawa
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma, by Bessel Van Der Kolk
The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity, by Nadine Burke Harris, 2018.
The Last Best Cure: My Quest to Awaken the Healing Parts of My Brain and Get Back My Body, My Joy, and My Life, by Donna Jackson Nakazawa
For other books, go to the ACEs Connection Books community.
Documentaries:
Paper Tigers — What does it mean to be a trauma-informed school? And how do you educate teens whose childhood experiences have left them with a brain and body ill-suited to learn? This film follows six students through a year in America’s first trauma-informed high school.
Resilience — Resilience chronicles how trailblazers in pediatrics, education, and social welfare are using cutting-edge science and field-tested therapies to protect children from the insidious effects of toxic stress.
CAREgivers — How is the professional care provider affected emotionally and physically, and who helps them?
For a list of all documentaries addressing PACEs science, and how to access them, go here.
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If you’re interested in becoming more involved in the PACEs science community, join our companion social network, PACEs Connection. Just go to PACEsConnection.com and click “Join”. PACEsConnection.com is the leading advocate for information about the science of positive and adverse childhood experiences (PACEs) and the rapidly expanding, global PACEs science movement.
[…] PACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] ACEs really begin to take a toll once a person reaches a score of 4. Those with an ACEs score of 4 are twice as likely to smoke and seven times more likely to suffer from alcoholism. Your risk of emphysema or chronic bronchitis raises by 400%, and your risk of suicide by 1200%. […]
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[…] ACEs really begin to take a toll once a person reaches a score of 4. Those with an ACEs score of 4 are twice as likely to smoke and seven times more likely to suffer from alcoholism. Your risk of emphysema or chronic bronchitis raises by 400%, and your risk of suicide by 1200%. […]
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[…] ACEs really begin to take a toll once a person reaches a score of 4. Those with an ACEs score of 4 are twice as likely to smoke and seven times more likely to suffer from alcoholism. Your risk of emphysema or chronic bronchitis raises by 400%, and your risk of suicide by 1200%. […]
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[…] ACEs really begin to take a toll once a person reaches a score of 4. Those with an ACEs score of 4 are twice as likely to smoke and seven times more likely to suffer from alcoholism. Your risk of emphysema or chronic bronchitis raises by 400%, and your risk of suicide by 1200%. […]
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Lots of why’s and causes but no detail of the solutions.
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Solutions abound, whether they’re personal, familial, organizational or in communities. Join PACEsConnection.com (the sister social network to ACEsTooHigh.com) to find them and the people who are developing solutions. It’s free!
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[…] In 1995, a joint effort from the CDC and Kaiser Permanente resulted in the creation of a large-scale ACE study which is a simple 10-item questionnaire that completely changed the way the medical community viewed the impact of these early childhood experiences. The study looks at three sets of questions highlighting abuse, neglect, and household challenges that an individual faced, and compared them to health outcomes later in life. What they found was groundbreaking: (source) […]
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[…] There’s also a whole bunch of research showing that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) — whether physical, emotional, or social — can change your brain and your stress response so you become more sensitive to future stressors and have a harder time returning to a normal state after being stressed. (For an eye-opening summary of this research, see the website Aces Too High.) […]
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I am a 68 year old mom and grandma with and ACE’s of 9 during childhood years and added the last one (making 10 of 10) during my married life. I lived my life knowing of most of the traumas until 64. At that time I was triggered I to the onset of CPTSD. I am fortunate to have been a patient if Kaiser at that time and chose to put myself into intense outpatient therapy 5 days a week for two years. When I had my breakdown, friends and family, and myself, did not even recognize me, as even my physical looks changed for a period of time as I was going through therapy. The worst physical changes occurred when I went through flashbacks. I moved to Texas (the state of my birth), to be with a man whom I went to high school with on Okinawa. My story is long and intense. I won’t place it here. As an Army BRAT (affectionately), I suffered through many different types of trauma starting at 9mos. Old! All of the different eras of my father’s Army life and deployments created such havoc for me and my family. My traumas started out as emotional, went to physical from violence, and when I was 12 changed into sexual (Along with the mental, emotional and physical violence) after my fathers tour of duty in Vietnam. Anyway, I would love to find a therapist in my area of Texas. I do rather well, but sometimes doing it is such a challenge. I have always been high functioning and thank God, still and. Thank you so much for listening and reading herein. 🙏
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Hi, Christie: Consider joining PACEs Connection, the social network that accompanies ACEsTooHigh.com. Just go to http://www.pacesconnection.com and click the “join” button.
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[…] and the mind’s wiring, mapping & developmental processes. Examples of childhood trauma, aka ACEs or Adverse Childhood Experiences, embrace: verbal, bodily and emotional abuse, bodily and emotional neglect, sexual abuse, home […]
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[…] Most adults, regardless of their background, have experienced at least one ACE in their own childhood, and more than a tenth have a total ACE score of 4—a score which doubles their risk of heart disease and cancer, increases their odds of becoming an alcoholic by 700%, and their risk of attempted suicide by 1200%. […]
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Is there any work on the downstream effects of ACEs on their children – the reverberated effects manifesting in their own children and their relationships?
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Yes, there is. Search PubMed for research articles.
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[…] ACEs can affect anyone, HSPs are particularly vulnerable. Research shows that HSPs raised in dysfunctional environments often have devastating lifelong difficulties. More […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] research from The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study demonstrates conclusively that childhood trauma can impact our physical, emotional, and […]
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[…] research from The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study demonstrates conclusively that childhood trauma can impact our physical, emotional, and […]
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[…] research from The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study demonstrates conclusively that childhood trauma can impact our physical, emotional, and […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] Biomedical researchers say that childhood trauma is biologically embedded in our bodies: Children with adverse childhood experiences and adults who have experienced childhood trauma may respond more quickly and strongly to events or conversations that would not affect those with no ACEs, and have higher levels of indicators for inflammation than those who have not suffered childhood trauma. This wear and tear on the body is the main reason why the lifespan of people with an ACE score of six or higher is likely to be shortened by 20 years. https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] ACEs really begin to take a toll once a person reaches a score of 4. These with an ACEs rating of 4 are twice as more likely to smoke and 7 occasions extra more likely to endure from alcoholism. Your threat of emphysema or power bronchitis raises by 400%, and your threat of suicide by 1200%. […]
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[…] – that is, they need a federal or state law that prohibits using it, along with training in ACEs science, trauma, and better, more effective ways to discipline their students so they can become the […]
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[…] The ACE (Adverse Childhood Events) Study found here: https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] ACEs really begin to take a toll once a person reaches a score of 4. Those with an ACEs score of 4 are twice as likely to smoke and seven times more likely to suffer from alcoholism. Your risk of emphysema or chronic bronchitis raises by 400%, and your risk of suicide by 1200%. […]
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[…] ACEs really begin to take a toll once a person reaches a score of 4. Those with an ACEs score of 4 are twice as likely to smoke and seven times more likely to suffer from alcoholism. Your risk of emphysema or chronic bronchitis raises by 400%, and your risk of suicide by 1200%. […]
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[…] https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] learn more about the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study visit: https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/. This TED Talk by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, who is now the Surgeon General for California, describes […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] ACES Too High […]
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[…] effects of childhood trauma increase the risk for a myriad of other poor behavioral choices, backed by peer reviewed […]
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[…] groundbreaking work of CDC-Kaiser Permanente resulted in The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACEs). One of the largest investigations into childhood abuse and neglect, ACEs uncovered the long-term […]
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Thank you! I am a 12 year old with PTSD from abuse both physical and verbal and an ACE of 6, and now I finally understand why I’ve felt so different from other children my age. I had some odd symptoms that I can’t explain, most adults, including DOCTORS would think I am faking it. I may have MS so the next time I’ll try to ask for a test.
Thanks so much again,
Arianna
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] ACEs are adverse childhood experiences that harm children’s developing brains and change how they respond to stress. ACEs damage the immune systems so profoundly that the effects show up decades later. ACEs cause much of our burden of chronic disease, most mental illness, and are at the root of most violence. […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] ACEs or Adverse Childhood Experiences are serious childhood traumas that result in toxic stress that can harm a child’s developing brain. This toxic stress may prevent a child from learning, playing with other children in a healthy way and can also result in long-term health problems. Some examples of ACEs include: emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, incarcerated household member, parental separation, household substance abuse, household mental illness, and even bullying. https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] learn more about ACEs and the science behind it, we invite you to visit ACEs Too High or the […]
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[…] According to the CDC-Kaiser Permanente ACE Study, separation from a primary caregiver in childhood (either through illness, divorce, or death) is considered an adverse childhood experience. There are 10 adverse childhood experiences listed that have significant, long-term effects on the developing health and wellness of children who endure them. For more information, check out https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] the role that unmet needs, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), personality, learning styles, and emotions such as guilt, shame, and remorse play in relating to […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] amount of information I had consumed. I went into her office mentally prepared to deliver ACEs 101 and geek out on why trauma informed care is such an important concept for the people we serve, and […]
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This blows my mind. I’m learning about belief systems and how they impact the physical healing of the body, and this is just another addition to a bounty of info. I will be exploring this more and more:)
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] idea of ACEs and their bodily and emotional well being penalties got here out of a study conducted in the late 1990s by Kaiser Permanente, San Diego and the Centers for Disease Cont…. It was an enormous research involving 17,000 Kaiser […]
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[…] ACE: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/about.html and https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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Wow. Just wow. Reading the first 1/4 of this page was rather triggering, and I felt as if I were reading my own biography. So much makes sense now that i could never quite connect before. Fortunately the second part of the page served as a light at the end of the tunnel, an indication that it could be possible to break (or at least weaken) the cycle of trauma for my children and grandchildren. So glad I signed up for a semester of child welfare. My family as well as my friends at the orphanage will profit well from this training.
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[…] Ga voor meer informatie over de wetenschap van ACE en hoe deze wordt gebruikt naar:: ACEs Science 101. […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] “Most people in the U.S. have at least one ACE, and people with four ACEs— including living with an alcoholic parent, racism, bullying, witnessing violence outside the home, physical abuse, and losing a parent to divorce — have a huge risk of adult-onset of chronic health problems such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, suicide, and alcoholism.” – ACEs 101 […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] Click Here to Read More About ACES […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] Children affected by incarceration are a vulnerable population. Often they are living in poverty. Also, because 92% of incarcerated parents are fathers, they live with either a single mother, a relative or in the foster care system. They are, more often than not, black. One in 9 African-American children have a parent in prison, compared to one in 57 white children. The feelings of abandonment when a parent is incarcerated harm a child’s developing brain. It changes how they respond to stress and damages their immune systems so profoundly that the effects …. […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] We have learned so far that mental trauma, ACE’s, PTSD, or even our parents divorce can result in health problems. The trauma just wasn’t felt in the heart but actually affected our brain, our nervous system, our gut biome, and a cascade of disease has ensued. According to the ACE’s Too High website, “ Too much stress – toxic stress – occurs when that raging bear comes home from the bar every night says pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris. Then a child’s brain and body will produce an overload of stress hormones — such as cortisol and adrenaline — that harm the function and structure of the brain. This can be particularly devastating in children, whose brains are developing at a galloping pace from before they are born to age three. Toxic stress is the kind of stress that can come in response to living for months or years with a screaming alcoholic father, a severely depressed and neglectful mother or a parent who takes out life’s frustrations by whipping a belt across a child’s body.”6 […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] Some are happy with their credit score while others are disappointed. Credit scores have a huge impact on what opportunities and ventures you can set out to achieve like buying a house or buying a car etc. It’s no wonder that many people frequently check their credit score to see where they are financially from Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor, and Very Poor. No one wants a in the red zone score because it creates barriers for people trying to achieve greater things in life. My question then is why do people not place the same level of importance on their ACE Score? Maybe You are not informed or have never heard of an ACE Score before reading this. (READ ON). ACEs are common, with nearly two-thirds (64%) of adults have at least one. https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] ACEs really begin to take a toll once a person reaches a score of 4. Those with an ACEs score of 4 are twice as likely to smoke and seven times more likely to suffer from alcoholism. Your risk of emphysema or chronic bronchitis raises by 400%, and your risk of suicide by 1200%. […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] and solve problems shrinks. We also know that for any of us with prior traumas or a high ACE score (a measure of adverse experiences during childhood), we are predisposed to physical and […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] & spiritual stress as kids, plus physical/sexual abuse, which later creates medical conditions (ACEs Science – adverse childhood […]
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[…] kids with ACEs-too-high is always challenging. But when they don’t go to school, family visits, or therapy, and you […]
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[…] research from The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study demonstrates conclusively that childhood trauma can impact our physical, emotional, and relational […]
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[…] experiences (ACEs) studied by the CDC and Kaiser Permanente, I experienced eight. As explained at ACES Too High, experiencing even one ACE can adversely impact a person’s lifelong health. People who experience […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] dhe të dashur. Bëhuni të durueshëm dhe do të arrini ta keni! Hulumtimi i vazhdueshëm nga The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) demonstron përfundimisht se trauma e fëmijërisë ndikon në shëndetin tonë fizik, emocional […]
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[…] adult patients, Abdullah and other members of her team use a tool called the ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) questionnaire to help patients identify their own childhood trauma. ACEs comes from the CDC-Kaiser […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] ACE study looked at ten different types of experiences, which commonly happen to children before they turn 18. These events generate the kind […]
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[…] WITH AN ADULT can help eliminate behavior problems, hence potentially reduce childhood trauma or ACEs which have a high correlation with suicide/suicidal behavior. In ending, I invite you to […]
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[…] shows that traumatic experiences and toxic stress are connected to a host of life-altering problems, including chronic illness, mental illness, cancer, shorter lifespans, alcoholism and drug use, […]
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[…] depression, heart disease, or cancer. Among the 10 so-called Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, are emotional abuse, physical abuse, separation from parents, and parental substance […]
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[…] stress & trauma significantly contribute to inflammatory diseases AND mental health issues (Source). Even Harvard medical is explaining depression as more of a psycho-neuro-immunological disorder […]
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[…] isn’t going to get you there. That with the first time we learn that there are things like ACEs and that there is science that begins to explain some of the struggles we see in kids (and […]
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[…] It is something I need to be and do more often. Why should I when I have been hurt by the very things I hold dear dand share with the wrong people or through my Adverse Childhood Experiences? […]
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[…] depression, heart disease, or cancer. Among the 10 so-called Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, are emotional abuse, physical abuse, separation from parents, and parental substance […]
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[…] plagët do të keni një marrëdhënie të vërtetë dhe të dashur. Hulumtimi i vazhdueshëm nga The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) demonstron përfundimisht se trauma e fëmijërisë ndikon në shëndetin tonë fizik, emocional […]
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[…] Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope. He advocates for the adoption of Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) evaluations in schools, but laments the insufficient resources schools have to add another […]
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So am I to blame for my son’s addiction?
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Blame is not very helpful in solving anyone’s problems. Understanding your life, your parents’ lives, your grandparents’ lives, etc., you can see how behavior can be handed down from one generation to another. And then, interrupting the cycle, starting with yourself, is the way to healing.
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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Kuddos to everyone commitment to creating trauma sensitive environs
wherever they happen to find themselves! Kindness, caring nurturers who see the
needs and willingly plow into the trenches with a positive mindset. IT CAN AND DOES
MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!
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[…] and Neglect, lays out the case for spanking being designated an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE). ACEs are linked to myriad regulatory complications for children that are then expressed as undesirable behaviors. […]
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[…] these statistics on top of all that: 65% of adults have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience, which can include abuse, neglect, divorce, and alcoholism. Recognize that most adult humans are […]
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[…] Children affected by incarceration are a vulnerable population. Often they are living in poverty. Also, because 92% of incarcerated parents are fathers, they live with either a single mother, a relative or in the foster care system. They are, more often than not, black. One in 9 African-American children have a parent in prison, compared to one in 57 white children. The feelings of abandonment when a parent is incarcerated harm a child’s developing brain. It changes how they respond to stress and damages their immune systems so profoundly that the effects …. […]
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[…] 7 ways childhood adversity changes a child’s brain Health Impacts ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] Resources: ACEs Science 101 – https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] shows this to be true. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) harm children’s developing brains and lead to changing how they respond to toxic and […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] research from The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study demonstrates conclusively that childhood trauma can impact our physical, emotional, and relational […]
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[…] research from The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study demonstrates conclusively that childhood trauma can impact our physical, emotional, and […]
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[…] has a point. Research shows that traumatic experiences and toxic stress are connected to a host of life-altering problems, including chronic illness, mental illness, cancer, shorter lifespans, alcoholism and drug use, […]
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[…] experiences (ACEs) studied by the CDC and Kaiser Permanente, I experienced eight. As explained at ACES Too High, experiencing even one ACE can adversely impact a person’s lifelong health. People who […]
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[…] greater the number of ACEs a youth experiences, the greater is the likelihood of multiple problems. ACEs science clearly shows that childhood trauma results in adolescent and adult-onset of chronic physical and mental illness, […]
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[…] https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] gets stuck in the body and unconscious levels of the brain. I highly recommend learning about how Adverse Childhood Experiences lead to health issues. The more stress or toxins (emotional, chemical, environmental, or physical) […]
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[…] long after that, I found the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] Sometimes, we learn as much from students as they do from us. Among the things I enjoy most about working in a University setting are the opportunities it can offer for meaningful conversations that prompt us to ask different questions, see new connections between diverse themes and experiences, and explore the implications for our thinking and practices. I have had several overlapping conversations of this kind over the past year or so. The most sustained of these has been with Juleus Ghunta, a Jamaican Chevening scholar who, as he describes in this blog post, came to Bradford to deepen his understanding of the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on his life. In a nutshell, ACEs are traumatic experiences – including various interpersonal forms of abuse and neglect as well as exposure to settings and cultures of violence and deprivation – that affect children’s health and development in far-reaching ways. […]
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[…] more on the Adverse Childhood Experiences studies and programs which make use of their findings go here […]
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[…] elevated levels of cortisol, adrenaline and other stress chemicals. This is called toxic stress. It increases the chances of developing chronic health problems later in life, such as autoimmune diseases, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and more. Toxic stress […]
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[…] by 700 percent and the risk of attempted suicide by 1200 percent. (For more information, go to ACEs Science 101. To calculate your ACE and resilience scores, go to: Got Your ACE […]
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[…] Ace Study […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] reflect on your experiences – along with writing about them in your journal entries… https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] who do not follow those messages, this is a stressful time in our culture. Studies such as the ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences study) show that not only do many of us carry stress and trauma from our childhood, but that stress, along […]
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Just read the article – great information and resources – I wondered – is there a one question “lead-in” to the ACES survey that anyone has used – or any other thoughts in that regard?
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[…] in the 1990s. The total number of childhood traumas someone has experienced determines their ACE score. About 2/3s of the people in the groundbreaking study had at least one ACE, but the researchers […]
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[…] ACEs are adverse childhood experiences that harm children’s developing brains and lead to changing how they respond to stress and damaging their immune systems so profoundly that the effects show up decades later. ACEs cause much of our burden of chronic disease, most mental illness, and are at the root of most violence. More information can be found at: https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] “You can think of an ACE score as a cholesterol score for childhood trauma. For example, people with an ACE score of 4 are twice as likely to be smokers and seven times more likely to be alcoholic. Having an ACE score of 4 increases the risk of emphysema or chronic bronchitis by nearly 400 percent, and suicide by 1200 percent.” (source) […]
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[…] modes of treatment, shouldn’t we focus on healing the causative emotional factors. Today, ACEs has been scientifically proven to cause chronic illness and […]
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[…] Read a study about how we can create healthier and happier adults by understanding and addressing th… […]
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[…] via ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] ienced some kind of trauma in their childhood, such as loss of a caregiver, substance abuse in the home, homelessness or abuse. There are ten types of “Adverse Childhood Experiences” that were identified in a study conducted in the 1990s. The total number of childhood traumas someone has experienced determines their ACE score… […]
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[…] in the 1990s. The total number of childhood traumas someone has experienced determines their ACE score. About 2/3s of the people in the groundbreaking study had at least one ACE, but the researchers […]
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[…] in the 1990s. The total number of childhood traumas someone has experienced determines their ACE score. About 2/3s of the people in the groundbreaking study had at least one ACE, but the researchers […]
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[…] in the 1990s. The total number of childhood traumas someone has experienced determines their ACE score. About 2/3s of the people in the groundbreaking study had at least one ACE, but the researchers […]
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[…] in the 1990s. The total number of childhood traumas someone has experienced determines their ACE score. About 2/3s of the people in the groundbreaking study had at least one ACE, but the researchers […]
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[…] Western Youth Services – Did you know that childhood trauma is an epidemic? That one in five children has a diagnosable mental health condition? That childhood trauma is associated, in many cases, with lifelong health and mental health outcomes? This predictive outcome is identified in the ground-breaking Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. The original ACE Study was conducted in 1998 by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Kaiser Permanente; you can find more information on the ACEs Too High website… […]
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[…] From my experience, we are not fine. Seriously, look at the divorce and crime rates, suicides, homicides, the addictions and growing list of diseases… If you don’t know how these are related, then you definitely need to do your research. Start here at Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) […]
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[…] educators and caregivers, we adopt trauma-informed care practices and consider the impact of adverse childhood experiences (or ACEs). We ask not “what’s wrong” with this child, but “what happened” to this child. In the […]
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[…] groundbreaking study by the CDC and Kaiser Permanente explored the incidence and impacts of traumatic events of individuals aged 0-18, categorizing them […]
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[…] professioneel werken. Het gaat hier om een cultuurverandering op basis van de studie naar ACEs – Adverse Childhood Experiences, negatieve ervaringen in de kindertijd – en de gevolgen van […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] to a Kaiser/CDC study of ACEs, “most people in the U.S. have at least one ACE.” Further, people with four ACEs […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] ACEs part of the training especially interesting. (For more information about ACEs science, go to ACEs Science 101; to calculate your ACE score, go to Got Your ACE […]
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[…] greater the number of ACEs a youth experiences, the greater is the likelihood of multiple problems. ACEs science clearly shows that childhood trauma results in adolescent and adult onset of chronic physical and mental […]
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[…] this mean for you? I am approaching this work through a social justice lens, understanding that Adverse Childhood Experiences exist in conjunction with Adverse Community Environments, which includes systemic racism, […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] Another term, somewhat synonymous with childhood trauma, is adverse childhood experiences. This originated from a study conducted by CDC and Kaiser. They essentially found links between trauma and physical health. That information can all be found on this website. […]
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[…] gets stuck in the body and unconscious levels of the brain. I highly recommend learning about how Adverse Childhood Experiences lead to health issues. The more stress or toxins (emotional, chemical, environmental, or physical) […]
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[…] of devastated loved ones. People who have experienced more childhood traumatic events have a greater tendency towards violence, go through more divorces, and suffer more broken bones. The behavior of traumatized children, and the lack of training given to teachers about the impact […]
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[…] Adverse Childhood Experiences study was ground-breaking in its recognition that childhood trauma impacts individuals across their […]
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[…] For more information about ACEs science, go to ACEs Science 101. […]
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[…] I want to share that sometimes bad things happen to good people, and sometimes good people do bad things. Sometimes these things affect children, affect their growth and development, affect their behavior, can even affect their future mental and physical health. […]
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[…] experiences, compared with 12.5% in the original study. Someone with a score of four or higher is seven times more likely to become an alcoholic compared with someone with a score of zero, 10 times more likely […]
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[…] For full article and resources, click HERE […]
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[…] Our experiences, especially the ones in childhood, create our templates and filters for how to process stimuli and stressors and respond. The first three years of life creates the blueprint for all future relationships. Most caregivers do not realize how impactful their reactions, mood, and behaviors are on their children. Children depend on caregivers for everything so if a caregiver is angry, depressed, neglectful, out of control or acting in a way the child doesn’t understand, then the child will perceive this as a threat to their livelihood which will activate their stress response system. I highly recommend learning about Adverse Childhood Experiences. […]
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[…] than you think. If your story is that of a relinquishee chances are, you’ve been exposed to many Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). ACEs can include neglect, domestic violence, living with a parent who is actively using drugs or […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] ACES 101: acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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Wonderful compilation of resources.
Thank-you
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[…] processing. Each of these experts has books, articles, websites, or businesses built around sharing ACEs science and […]
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[…] We are not fine. Seriously, look at the divorce and crime rates, suicides, homicides, the addictions and growing list of dis-eases… If you don’t know how these are related, then you definitely need to do your research. Start here Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) […]
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[…] approach, to one that is based in understanding, nurturing and healing….in other words, the science of adverse childhood experiences — ACEs. The great news is that many organizations and communities already have, and are achieving results […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] Link to the ACES Study: https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] know the research shows that having a history of childhood trauma has significant impacts on health across a person’s […]
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[…] is a framework developed by CDC Kaiser Permanente (more information here https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/) According to the site acestoohigh.com, “ACEs are adverse childhood experiences that harm […]
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[…] The higher one’s ACEs score, the more likely one is to, as an adult, have significant health, emotional, and behavioral problems like cancer, financial problems, depression, heart disease, smoking, and obesity. [4] When children are exposed to sustained trauma and toxic stress, the body produces stress hormones that alter the neural pathways of developing brains (Perry et al.,1995). When the brain is stressed–flooded by powerful hormones like cortisol–the body struggles to recover to a “normal” state, which in turn increased the chances for developing a “trigger” response (or anxiety) to future stresses (Stevens “ACEs Science 101”). […]
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[…] experiences, compared with 12.5% in the original study. Someone with a score of four or higher is seven times more likely to become an alcoholic compared with someone with a score of zero, 10 times more likely […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] she was eight years old. In this book, she marries an explanation of how Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs) affect health later in life with the telling of the year she spent integrating meditation, yoga […]
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[…] control. Losing a parent to separation, divorce, or other reasons has been identified as one of the ten ACEs. With up to half of marriages in the U.S. ending in divorce (and rates even higher for 2nd, 3rd, […]
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[…] Exercise Got Your ACE Score? ACEs Science 101 […]
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Dear Jane, I’m working on an ACEs fact sheet for patients to give physicians and wonder if we know how many ACE studies have been done (I saw your stats on 35 states)? And / or how many articles have been published? And / or if you have a source for such info?
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Hi, Veronique — 39 states now, plus the District of Columbia, several countries (through WHO’s ACE surveys); hundreds of research papers (go to PubMed and search for “adverse childhood experiences”). Hundreds of schools and pediatricians integrating ACEs science into their organizations; hundreds of communities starting local ACEs initiatives; hundreds, perhaps low thousands, of organizations integrating trauma-informed practices based on ACEs science. We’re working on a GIS map to capture much of this. Stay tuned!
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] is true that there is a growing understanding of how trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) not only affect the brain and learning, but can lead to numerous behavior challenges, including […]
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[…] (ACEs). ACEs refers to the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experience Study (ACE Study) and ACEs science, which shows how common childhood adversity is (most people have experienced at least one type), […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] of devastated loved ones. People who have experienced more childhood traumatic events have a greater tendency towards violence, go through more divorces, and suffer more broken bones. The behavior of traumatized children, and the lack of training given to teachers about the impact […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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Has anyone looked for a relationship between ACE scores and how children do in school (GPA, test scores, comprehension etc.) I was going to do a survey about it for my senior project and I would like to see any studies done, if any, to try and base mine around those.
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Yes, see this article: https://acestoohigh.com/2012/02/28/spokane-wa-students-child-trauma-prompts-search-for-prevention/, and this article: https://acestoohigh.com/2015/05/31/resilience-practices-overcome-students-aces-in-trauma-informed-high-school-say-the-data/
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This is so important, thank you for sharing.
I love how you mention that the body wants to heal and rid of the toxic stress. It’s never too late for the children or for us – we can all heal!
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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As an adult with an ACE score of 9 I hope someone is using this research to inform the legal system in pursuit of offenders and deciding on sentencing after conviction.
As someone who has suffered GREAT losses as an adult due to the abuse and trauma I experienced as a child, I am often appalled at the light sentencing these offenders get.
Children can suffer for a lifetime from being abused. A few short years in prison does not seem commensurate with the crime.
Its time we see the true cost of this crime not just to the child but to our world who will not have the benefit of the work that child could have contributed to our society. We will never know what they may have invented or the cure they may have developed or the president they might have been. These things they have lost and most certainly our society has too.
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I guess you also have to consider any abuse that the offenders received when they were children – It effects them to.
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My ACE Score is 9, also. I understand we are very rare. Only about 1% of people have that score, and most are destroyed by addiction, social problems, chronic disease, and early death.
I’d like to see ACE science applied to education at every level of society.
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] that there are certainly undeniable roadblocks to changing others belief systems when you add traumatic experiences to the mix. Identifying what the roadblocks are, dissecting what they mean to our society at large, […]
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[…] to the Kaiser study, having an ACE score of 4 or more almost doubles the risk of cancer and heart disease, and […]
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[…] the statistics behind childhood trauma and its link to autoimmune diseases please read about the ACE project and explore what it means to […]
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[…] https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] elevated levels of cortisol, adrenaline and other stress chemicals. This is called toxic stress. It increases the chances of developing chronic health problems later in life, such as autoimmune diseases, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and more. Toxic stress […]
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Amazing love it. I am a counselor who scored eight of ten. I have always had trouble dealing with stress and anxiety. I am a recovering alcoholic and all of this toxic stress makes sense. Coping mechanism are difficult to engage when you either don’t have them duh or take the path of least resistance via drugs sex or any other tension reductive behavior. Love it
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[…] ACE is an “adverse childhood experience.” Two-thirds of Americans have experienced one, but a smaller section of Americans have experience […]
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[…] “You can think of an ACE score as a cholesterol score for childhood trauma. For example, people with an ACE score of 4 are twice as likely to be smokers and seven times more likely to be alcoholic. Having an ACE score of 4 increases the risk of emphysema or chronic bronchitis by nearly 400 percent, and suicide by 1200 percent.” (source) […]
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[…] depression, heart disease, or cancer. Among the 10 so-called Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, are emotional abuse, physical abuse, separation from parents, and parental substance […]
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[…] by 700 percent and the risk of attempted suicide by 1200 percent. (For more information, go to ACEs Science 101. To calculate your ACE and resilience scores, go to: Got Your ACE […]
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[…] Childhood trauma (like being emotionally neglected or losing a parent) increases the likelihood of the adult onset of chronic disease like cancer, heart disease, and mental illness along with being more likely to be violent, have their lives shortened by 20 years, be an alcoholic, and more.. Ref: acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] Experiences Study (ACE Study) shows that people who suffer early childhood neglect and abuse get sick more often throughout their lives and with more serious illnesses than the average population. They also become addicted at much […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] the statistics behind childhood trauma and its link to autoimmune diseases please read about the ACE project and explore what it means to […]
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[…] adverse childhood experience has been documented by the Kaiser Permanente ACE study, described here , which showed that domestic violence witnessed and/or experienced in childhood to be the number […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] If you take the ACE (The Adverse Childhood Experiences) test, which assesses how childhood trauma can affect our mental, spiritual and physical wellbeing, you’ll be shocked at how many “Yes’s” you and everyone else puts. Research itself proves it. […]
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[…] research from The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study demonstrates conclusively that childhood trauma can impact our physical, emotional and relational […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] law on March 22 a resolution (H.C.R. 10) to encourage state policy and programs to incorporate the science of adverse childhood experiences to address “severe emotional trauma and other adverse childhood experiences” in children and […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] books on this topic that contain detailed research based clinical definitions. The article, ACEs Science 101 is a good source which will provide links to completely broaden your knowledge of the […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] research from The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study demonstrates conclusively that childhood trauma can impact our physical, emotional and relational […]
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[…] Source: ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] of devastated loved ones. People who have experienced more childhood traumatic events have a greater tendency towards violence, go through more divorces, and suffer more broken bones. The behavior of traumatized children, and the lack of training given to teachers about the impact […]
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[…] research from The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study demonstrates conclusively that early childhood and young adult trauma can impact our physical, […]
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[…] experiences, compared with 12.5% in the original study. Someone with a score of four or higher is seven times more likely to become an alcoholic compared with someone with a score of zero, 10 times more likely […]
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[…] experiences, compared with 12.5% in the original study. Someone with a score of four or higher is seven times more likely to become an alcoholic compared with someone with a score of zero, 10 times more likely […]
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[…] of permanent disability, or even early death. Four or more “ACEs,” as they’re called, raise the risk of chronic bronchitis by 400 percent, and six or more mean a life that’s 20 years shorter than […]
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[…] of permanent disability, or even early death. Four or more “ACEs,” as they’re called, raise the risk of chronic bronchitis by 400 percent, and six or more mean a life that’s 20 years shorter than […]
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Thanks. Do you know why it was not included? Was it because this type of crisis is so apparent typically it is addressed immediately whereas other stresses are hidden or kept secret?
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I think it wasn’t included because they were looking at events that could be prevented, from a public health point of view. Death is inevitable, but divorce can be prevented.
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Why was having a parent die during your childhood omitted from the questionnaire?
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This is going to sound strange….it wasn’t so much as omitted, as it wasn’t included, as other ACEs were not, either. There are many other ACEs, and having a parent die is certainly one of them.
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Thanks. My children have struggled since their brother died.
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[…] ACEs Science 101 […]
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[…] ACES 101 […]
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[…] Researchers determined that “ACEs are adverse childhood experiences that harm children’s developing brains so profoundly that the effects show up decades later; they cause much of chronic disease, most mental illness, and are at the root of most violence.” […]
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[…] most important thing to remember is that the ACE score is meant as a […]
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[…] Researchers determined that “ACEs are adverse childhood experiences that harm children’s developing brains so profoundly that the effects show up decades later; they cause much of chronic disease, most mental illness, and are at the root of most violence.” […]
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[…] Source: ACES 101 […]
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[…] Research shows that adverse childhood experiences (ACE) can cause the onset of illnesses in adulthood. Dr. Allison Jackson explained how common ACE can be in her TED Talk. […]
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[…] ACES 101 […]
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[…] ACES 101 […]
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[…] score of 2 or more on the ACE test, when correlated with test taker’s health records showed the following compared to someone with a score of […]
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[…] care to support area youth through adverse childhood experiences (be sure to check out https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ for more info!). A large group of community agencies came together in an effort to plan and sponsor […]
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[…] ACES 101 […]
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[…] cause much of chronic disease, most mental illness, and are at the root of most violence. Source: ACEs Too High Information about ACEs – Adverse Childhood Experiences – is based on the results from a large […]
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[…] (ACE) research refers to a series of over 60 studies conducted in the past 25 years with results that have been reproduced in 32 states and in Washington DC. They explore the relationship between difficult childhood events and chronic behavioral, mental […]
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[…] sexual abuse is an adverse childhood experience, and there is a significant connection between abuse at a young age and poor mental, physical and […]
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[…] Last week, and the week before, I reported on efforts over the past two decades to put more of this kind of knowledge into effect. Specifically, I examined how community-based networks were sharing research with professionals and residents in numerous communities, about how the effects of childhood trauma — so-called adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs — substantially increase risks for a range of negative outcomes, including dropping out of school, abusing drugs, becoming depressed, committing suicide, and being a victim of, or a perpetrator, of violence or abuse. (For information about ACEs, including the landmark ACE study and “ACE scores,” see these infographics and resources.) […]
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Geez, according to this I’m going to die in my 50s. That’s pretty depressing.
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I know it has been a while, but I saw this and just had to respond. Though this study focuses on the negative impact of ACE’s, it does not spend as much time on the aspect of lived experience that can protect us, even undo the impact of our ACE’s- resilience. Please do not see yourself as doomed, many of us have had challenges, however, having “Promotive” or “Protective” factors can mitigate the impact our ACE’s might have had on us. If we are able to work, to help and love others, to problem-solve and lead productive lives- it is likely we had enough support and protection to give us the strength and ability to overcome the challenges we encountered in our childhoods. Do not give up hope or let this data rob you of your successes!!
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Hi, Laura: Good point. You’ll find that information in one of the five parts of ACE science: resilience research that demonstrates post-traumatic growth, whether for individuals, families, organizations or communities.
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[…] Here’s an interesting website that acts as a repository of information on all the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences. Dig in and learn! […]
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My ACE score is 7. I’m 24 (almost 25), a woman with a successful career and a successful relationship of 1 year. Unfortunately for me I was raped when i was 19. I was also physically, emotionally, & mentally abused by my ex-fiance. I have a horrible heart condition which first presented itself when i was 15 and during my parent’s nasty divorce. I feel like most days I have it together. I feel like I’m doing well, I’m fun and outgoing and responsible. I’m healthy and active and decently attractive. I’m nice and loving and hard-working. I would say that my childhood experiences reflect most in my romantic relationships.
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[…] Read a study about how we can create healthier and happier adults by understanding and addressing … […]
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[…] https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] Information on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) […]
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[…] We think it important to do some general education on the impact of child abuse, including child sex abuse. The following is taken from the web site ACES Too High […]
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[…] Those taking the test get one point for each type of trauma experienced on the 10-question survey. Research shows that children with a score of four have a 1200 percent greater chance of committing suicide and are […]
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[…] Those taking the test get one point for each type of trauma experienced on the 10-question survey. Research shows that children with a score of four have a 1200 percent greater chance of committing suicide and are […]
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[…] some of our schools, over a third of our students have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACES). We believe these students can achieve at the highest levels. We believe that these students have […]
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[…] research from The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study demonstrates conclusively that childhood trauma can impact our physical, emotional, and […]
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[…] injury that induced him to violence, which is unlikely because it’s so rare, or he had many adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that he never resolved. If it’s the latter, which is much more likely, as I’ll explain […]
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[…] injury that induced him to violence, which is unlikely because it’s so rare, or he had many adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that he never resolved.” […]
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[…] injury that induced him to violence, which is unlikely because it’s so rare, or he had many adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that he never resolved.” […]
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[…] research from The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study demonstrates conclusively that childhood trauma can impact our physical, emotional, and relational […]
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[…] with ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) is an environment not a series of incidences that happened here and there against a great […]
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[…] that induced him to violence, which is unlikely because it’s so rare, or he had many adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that he never resolved. If it’s the latter, which is much more likely, as I’ll […]
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[…] science refers to adverse childhood experiences. This includes the epidemiology of ACEs (the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences […]
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[…] ACES 101 […]
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[…] with ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) is an environment not a series of incidences that happened here and there against a great […]
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[…] physical, emotional or even sexual abuse. These are known as Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs. Research on ACEs indicates that these experiences can cause many health risks in adults such as […]
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[…] familial disruption and instability) and the effects of traumatic incidents, also known as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), can alter a child’s brain development, hindering their ability to learn and their development of […]
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[…] What did the research determine regarding these ACEs? • Almost two-thirds of those studied had at least one ACE and 87% of those had 2 or more ACEs. • These traumatic events cause adult onset chronic disease, mental illness, violence and becoming a victim of violence. • The more ACEs you have the more risk of these later adult onset issues arising. People with an ACE score of 4 are twice as likely to be smokers and 7 times more likely to be alcoholic. Having an ACE score of 4 increases the risk of emphysema by nearly 400% and suicide by 1200%. People with high ACE scores are more likely to be violent, to have more marriages, more broken bones, drug prescriptions, depression and autoimmune diseases. People with an ACE score of 6 or more are at risk of their lifespan being shortened by 20 years. • Childhood adversity contributes to most of our major chronic health, mental health, economic health and social health issues. https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] is true that there is a growing understanding of how trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) not only affect the brain and learning, but can lead to numerous behavior challenges, including […]
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[…] between childhood maltreatment and later-life health and well-being. What were the startling findings from this […]
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[…] ACES 101 […]
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[…] ACEs Frequently Asked Questions has a lot of information and resources on the ACE study […]
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[…] had a meeting yesterday with some local professionals to talk about the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study, which in a nutshell states that the more negative influences in a child’s life they […]
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I’m 28. I’ve an ace score of 6. I’m obese..I’ve lost my hair..lost my smile as I gotta fake it..I’m in a long distance relationship with a girl whom I’ve never seen but intend to be with her..though I’m with my old parents..I’m often feel isolated..all of my friends are married and settled so I don’t have friends and corporate friendship is merely nothing but business.. what’s a solution for me to be Born again ad a new man..I wanna forget everything ..I wish I had an amnesia … please guide me… as of now I feel God is the only one who ever loved me..
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[…] research from The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study demonstrates conclusively that childhood trauma can impact our physical, emotional, and relational […]
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[…] short life, our kiddos have developed a defense or survival tactic as they’ve come across Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). When they’re having a difficult experience or a “big feeling” they simply […]
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[…] ACES 101 […]
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[…] to our well-being instead of as a loving support. But new research, based on the world-famous Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Studies, shows that as we heal these childhood wounds, we not only improve our health, but reignite the […]
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[…] research from The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study demonstrates conclusively that childhood trauma can impact our physical, emotional and relational […]
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[…] How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology and How You Can Heal, Donna Jackson Nakazawa reports on the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE). The ACE study offers irrefutable scientific link between many types of common childhood […]
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[…] is a brand new book, Childhood Disrupted, out about the Adverse Childhood Experiences study. It was published earlier this month and I really, really wanted to get it….but I was a little […]
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[…] research from The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study demonstrates conclusively that childhood trauma can impact our physical, emotional, and relational […]
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[…] ACEs include mental, emotional, physical and sexual abuse; losing a parent to divorce, abandonment, or death; witnessing a parent endure abuse; having a family member in prison; neglect; and living with an alcoholic, drug addict or someone who is depressed or suffers from other mental illness. Further ACEs research found that these types of toxic stress could affect brain development and fundamentally change our genes, which are passed down to future generations. […]
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[…] percent of girls in the system have an adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) of five or more, placing them at a much higher risk for chronic health […]
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[…] Outa the loop?….more on the ACE Study here!!! […]
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[…] ACE scores measure an individual’s level of childhood trauma, both personal and witnessed, and are predictors of disease(s) in adulthood; oftentimes, being exposed to a single ACE means an individual was also exposed to a second ACE—multiple ACE. […]
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[…] over opduikt, zit een categorie kinderen met een factor 10 zo groot die minder extreme vormen van kindermishandeling meemaken. Het zijn de meer dan 30% onveilig gehechte en/of getraumatiseerde kinderen die veelal […]
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[…] plaintiffs’ legal team is relying on research demonstrating clearly that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a barrier to academic success for millions of children (see Spokane, WA, students’ trauma […]
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[…] “Adverse Childhood Experiences in Tennessee” was released May 26. It balances the prevalence of ACEs with a message of resiliency and hope. In bold type, it leads with “Facts NOT Fate,” stating, “Like a house’s foundation, brain architecture is built over time and from the bottom up. Positive experiences in infancy and early childhood can build a strong and solid foundation. Negative experience weaken the foundation which can lead to life-log problems.” (For more background about ACEs, go to ACEs 101.) […]
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[…] cause chronic disease, mental illness, violence, being a victim of violence and early death. (See ACEs 101 for more […]
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[…] plaintiffs’ legal team is relying on research demonstrating clearly that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a barrier to academic success for millions of children (see Spokane, WA, students’ trauma […]
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[…] ACES 101 […]
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[…] self feels cursed to wake up on a Monday morning with no ability to sidestep the currents of CDC ACE Study-related thoughts that are streaming through my […]
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[…] decision whether or not to include the gathering of this information I am suggesting along with the ACEs questionnaire she will be […]
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[…] and terrified by even our mothers from the moment of our birth? Where do we fit into the CDC ACE study […]
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[…] The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study is one of the largest investigations ever conducted to assess associations between childhood traumas and later-life health and well-being, including relationship and marriage problems. ACEs are adverse childhood experiences that harm children’s developing brains so profoundly that the effects show up decades later. […]
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[…] particular interest to the community of people who are interested in adverse childhood experiences is the fourth episode, “Wounded Places: Confronting PTSD in America’s Shell-Shocked […]
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[…] cause chronic disease, mental illness, violence, being a victim of violence and early death. (See ACEs 101 for more […]
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[…] For an overview of ACEs, go to ACEs 101 – the FAQs. […]
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You wrote, “the brain is plastic, and the body wants to heal.” One of the best days of my life was when I learned the word “neuroplasticity”. I was delighted that the brain could heal to the point of recovering from extensive damage.
My ACES score is 7, however I am living a good, long life because I found healing comfort and recovery in “mindfulness practices, exercise, good nutrition, adequate sleep, and healthy social interactions”.This year, I discovered the “trauma-informed approach”, and am working on putting it into words to explain on my blog.
I look forward to digging into the great heap of links that you shared with us. Thanks.
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[…] particular interest to the community of people who are interested in adverse childhood experiences is the fourth episode, “Wounded Places: Confronting PTSD in America’s Shell-Shocked […]
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[…] colleague, Jane Stevens of ACEs Too High, can more fully explain the science behind the ACE. While not every hurt qualifies as an event […]
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[…] colleague, Jane Stevens of ACEs Too High, can more fully explain the science behind the ACE. While not every hurt qualifies as an event […]
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Jane,
Can you help me cite Mark Rains & Kate McClinn’s 14 statement “resilience questionnaire”?
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Hi, Jim: The questionnaire was given to me by one of the group that participated in putting it together. I don’t know if it’s been published anywhere. Mark Rains would probably know.
— J.
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I am leaving Jan 1 to travel for three months across the USA to interview resilient people. I have a survey monkey too that is going out around the world. I’m using the ACES question as part of the research. If any of your readers would like to answer the survey, it will be avail at http://www.drjenniferaustinleigh.com Wednesday, Dec. 17th. I am passionate about helping adults and children learn to bounce back.
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I would like to participate in your study Jennifer. My ACE score is 9, and I am 36. The more I read, the more I realize why some of the things present in my life are happening. I must have a high resiliency score because I am a relatively successful adult. That being said I am dealing with substantial emotional and physical issues that seem to be for no reason. I know you posted quite a long time ago, but I am seeking help for myself and others. Please contact me at coachdrichard@yahoo.com.
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I hope you were able to go to Arkansas. Our States’ ACE’s scores are all too prevalent. There is so much poverty especially in the Southern most areas of the State. The incidents of incest are very high, as is Schizophrenia, and AIDS continues to kill young mothers. The ACE’s test is profound in its predictions. I’d like to see the lives of the impoverished change forever. Poverty is the Enemy.
Thank you for your work…its going to take more than a village to change all these lives.
gigi
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[…] ACES 101 […]
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[…] https://acestoohigh.com/aces-101/ […]
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[…] ACES 101 […]
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[…] ACES 101 […]
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[…] that there would be direct correlation between the occurrence of ADD and A-I diseases (like in the ACES study). But I do propose that for any child, the experience of being forced into a box that they […]
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[…] that there would be direct correlation between the occurrence of ADD and A-I diseases (like in the ACES study). But I do propose that for any child, the experience of being forced into a box that they […]
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[…] ACES 101 […]
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[…] chemistry and arrested emotional development – problems often due to early childhood trauma. We use spirituality to fill a hole inside of us like others use of alcohol, exercise, sex or […]
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