About 61% of adults had at least one adverse childhood experiences (ACE). ACEs can include violence, abuse, neglect, and growing up in a family with mental health and/or substance use problems. Other ACEs childhood experiences can include high conflict parental divorce and separation from primary caregivers.
Sadly, ACEs rarely occur in silo. About 16% of adults had 4 or more ACEs. High or frequent exposure to ACEs can dysregulate our stress response as well as affect our perspectives on ourselves and the safety of relationships.
Thankfully, the negative effects of ACEs can be tempered when people have a strong support system and the skills to successfully cope with life’s challenges. This coping ability is called resilience.
Adverse childhood experiences or ACEs can hinder healthy childhood development and last into adulthood. This is why it is important to understand the impact of stressful childhoods if you find yourself struggling with mental health issues as an adult.
As long as you keep secrets and suppress information, you are fundamentally at war with yourself. The critical issue is allowing yourself to know what you want. That takes an enormous amount of courage.” - Bessel van der Kolk in The Body Keeps The Score
Some negative effects of ACEs in adulthood are:
🔗 Physical health problems
🔗 Diminished cognitive skills
🔗 Depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues
🔗 Substance misuse
🔗 Interpersonal relationship difficulties
🔗 Modelling of unhealthy parenting and marriage relationships from childhood
Trauma-informed therapy approaches (such as cognitive processing therapy and trauma-focused cognitive behaviour therapy) can help to improve outcomes. First, you will recognise how your current mental health issues and/or interpersonal difficulties may be correlated to stressful childhood events. Second, you will acquire adaptive skills to cope with difficult emotions, enhance relationships, and learn to trust yourself.
For some, it is important to address the unresolved adverse childhood experiences for your own children and break the cycle of family trauma.
Practitioner Profile: Yammie Chin
I am trained in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Cognitive Processing Therapy, two gold standard treatments for young persons and adults with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder respectively. They are evidence-based and shown to be highly effective.
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