There is sometimes a tendency to expect people to just “get over” difficult experiences they had as a child. Unfortunately, these early struggles can have lifelong impact on people, unless they receive support and build resiliency. At Highland Hospital Behavioral Health in Charleston, West Virginia, we treat children, adolescents and adults who are struggling with mental illness. Many of our clients are also survivors of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
What Are ACEs?
ACEs are difficult experiences a person has before they reach the age of 18. For many people, these experiences are considered trauma, because they overwhelm their ability to cope due to how terrifying, painful or life altering they are. Some examples of ACEs include:
- Abuse – sexual, emotional or physical
- Neglect – emotional or physical
- Parental mental illness or substance abuse
- Witnessing domestic violence
- Absence of a parent or close relative due to death, foster care placement, divorce or incarceration
What is Resiliency?
Resiliency describes a person’s ability to recover from difficulty. Just like a rubber band is able to return to its previous condition after it has been stretched, people who are resilient are able to “bounce back” from the things life throws at them. Although some people may be blessed with personalities that are inherently more resilient, resiliency is something that people can develop.
The Difference Between ACEs and Trauma
Trauma is different for everyone, because our minds are all unique and we all have different protective factors that can help us to navigate difficult experiences. What is traumatic for one child, because they lacked proper protection and support, may only be mildly difficult for another child, who processes the event differently because they have a more resilient personality and have loving, protective adults in their life. For this reason, ACEs are not automatically labeled as trauma, though they often are traumatic.
The Big Deal About ACEs
You may be wondering why we need another word to describe potentially traumatic events that occur during childhood. People experience awful things throughout their lives, but research has found that these painful, frightening experiences happening during the early years, when a person has limited ability to protect themselves and is still developing their coping skills, are linked to increased risk of negative health outcomes later in life. Some of these undesired outcomes are unhealthy behaviors, such as:
- Lack of physical activity
- Drug use – alcohol, tobacco, misuse of prescription drugs and illicit substance use
- Absenteeism from work
- Poor performance in school
- Risky sexual behaviors
There is also a link between ACEs and unwanted health outcomes, for example:
- Obesity, increasing the risk of
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Depression and suicide attempts
- Sexual transmitted infections
- Stroke
- Cancer
- COPD and asthma
It has been understood for a long time that parents who have a lot of ACEs are at risk for having children who also experience a lot of ACEs. A recent study found that a high number of ACEs also increases the risk that a person will engage in elder abuse, which is a variation on the understanding of generational trauma, which is often assumed to be passed from parent to child. This study showed that ACEs can lead to trauma passing in the opposite direction.
The Significance of ACEs Scores
Researchers developed a short quiz that assigns people a point for each of the ACEs they navigated during their first 18 years of life. The higher a person’s score, the more at-risk they are for the outcomes listed above.
What Can Be Done About ACEs
In many cases, it is possible for ACEs to be prevented entirely. Research has found that preventing ACEs could reduce the number of adults with depression by around 44 percent. In other cases, having a loving, supportive adult can mitigate the impact of an adverse experience. Additionally, children, adolescents and even adults who are far removed from a difficult event, can learn coping skills and build their resiliency.
Professionals who work with children and families, including teachers, doctors, therapists, law enforcement and social workers can become trauma-informed, so that they are able to approach their work in a way that does not further traumatize people who have already faced difficulties.
At Highland Hospital Behavioral Health, our staff are trained in trauma-informed care. Our mental health and substance abuse treatment services are evidence-based and delivered in a manner and setting that is intentional about handling potentially triggering situations with compassion and sensitivity. Each patient has an individualized case plan that allows us to deliver programming that is tailored to their unique needs and circumstances.
