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Adverse Childhood Experiences
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In order for children to flourish in their growth and development, they need a secure and safe home environment. Childhood trauma may have a long-term effect on one’s health and well-being.
Adverse Childhood Experiences
Accumulated adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, occur throughout the formative years of childhood and have a detrimental influence on one’s well-being. Traumatic experiences include both one-time incidents and those that occur on a regular basis, such as abuse.
Definition of Adverse Childhood Experiences
Each unfavorable incident a youngster has experienced counts as one trauma. The more trauma someone suffers before 18 years old, the more likely they are to endure bad adulthood experiences, including drug use disorders and mental health illnesses.
The following are examples of ACEs that are often encountered:
- Physical abuse
- Verbal abuse
- Sexual abuse
- Physical neglect
- Emotional neglect
- Having a parent who has alcohol use disorder
- Having a parent who’s a victim of domestic violence
- Having a family member who is incarcerated
- Having a family member diagnosed with a mental health illness
- Experiencing divorce of parents
Toxic stress and ACEs are linked. Child abuse and neglect (ACEs) have been shown to cause toxic stress in children’s development. Because it stimulates the body’s stress response system to an abnormal degree, toxic stress is harmful stress. This is supposed to cause the body and brain to wear and strain.
ACEs and Their Effects on Health
Prolonged stress is linked to ACEs’ negative health effects. Chronic stress alters the growing brain’s ability to deal with stress and how it develops new coping mechanisms.
Physical Health
Physical health issues related to ACEs include:
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (COPD)
- Asthma
- Kidney disease
- Stroke
- Heart disease
- Cancer
- Diabetes
- Obesity
- Substance use disorders, including alcohol use disorder and cigarette smoking
ACEs are related to at least five of the top causes of mortality, including suicide and overdose.
Mental Health
Mental well-being is believed to diminish when the number of ACEs grows increases. The following are all connected with ACEs.
- Behavioral and emotional dysregulation
- Depressive disorder and anxiety disorders
- Personality disorders
- Psychotic disorders
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Recovery
For persons who are attempting to process trauma and heal from ACEs, play and creative expression (which may be done via many kinds of art) have been proven to be beneficial. Studies in the year of 2021 found that children’s play provides a safe environment in which to express themselves, care for themselves, and heal from the traumatic experiences of their childhoods.
Understanding the impact of trauma, adversity, and toxic stress on child development is the goal of “trauma-informed” therapies. Using this strategy, ACEs may be avoided, decreased (in terms of their influence in the future), and treated. Retraumatization (reliving unpleasant experiences from a previous trauma) may be avoided with an event-informed approach, and the client is given the tools to alter their bad coping techniques to healthy ones.
Summary
Childhood trauma may have a long-term influence on one’s health and well-being. Traumatic events include both one-time situations and those that continue on a regular basis, such as abuse. The more trauma someone undergoes before 18 years old, the more likely they are to face terrible adulthood events. ACEs are associated to at least five of the main causes of death, including suicide and overdose. Chronic stress impacts the brain’s capacity to cope with stress and how it develops coping strategies. ACEs may be prevented, lessened (in terms of their effect in the future), and addressed.
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