Coming from Hard Places: The ACEs Study (Part 1/5)

In the 1990’s a unique and nov­el research study was con­duct­ed and explored whether a link exists between ear­ly child­hood expe­ri­ences and health out­comes and choic­es lat­er in life. Known as the “CDC-Kaiser Ace Study,” or the ACE study, its find­ings from over 17,000 men and women became trans­for­ma­tive to how we under­stand adverse expe­ri­ences in life and how they are linked with men­tal and phys­i­cal health out­comes in adult­hood.

What are ACEs?

The term “ACE” stands for “Adverse Child­hood Expe­ri­ences.” In the study, the researchers looked at three cat­e­gories (i.e., abuse, neglect, house­hold dys­func­tion) of ten expe­ri­ences: emo­tion­al abuse, phys­i­cal abuse, sex­u­al abuse, emo­tion­al neglect, phys­i­cal neglect, moth­er treat­ed vio­lent­ly, sub­stance abuse in the house­hold, men­tal ill­ness in the house­hold, parental sep­a­ra­tion or divorce, and incar­cer­at­ed house­hold mem­ber. These sit­u­a­tions are some­times referred to as “com­ing from hard places.” 

About the Study & Its Findings

Adults who took the study marked a “yes” or “no” for whether they expe­ri­enced these expe­ri­ences grow­ing up and then tal­lied their total. Researchers found that near­ly 66% of over 17,000 who par­tic­i­pat­ed expe­ri­enced at least one ACE and over 20% of par­tic­i­pants expe­ri­enced three or more ACEs. Researchers also dis­cov­ered that as ACE num­ber increas­es, so does neg­a­tive out­come risk, with four or more ACEs con­tribut­ing to greater risk. See the cat­e­gories and their descrip­tions in the table below to see the sev­en dif­fer­ent risk cat­e­gories.

What about me?

You may be read­ing this and think­ing, “Oh great. I’m near the thresh­old of three or more ACEs…”. Take a breath. It’s nor­mal for your brain to make con­clu­sions about information—after all, its job is to pro­tect you and keep you safe. How­ev­er, just because you have ACEs and this study was done, does not nec­es­sar­i­ly mean that you will have neg­a­tive out­comes. In oth­er words, cor­re­la­tion is not cau­sa­tion. There is a dif­fer­ence between neg­a­tive symp­toms and hav­ing a dis­or­der or men­tal ill­ness. Many peo­ple expe­ri­ence ACEs and can move for­ward with­out a diag­no­sis.

When Should I Seek Therapy?

Seek­ing sup­port in ther­a­py for symp­toms is a great idea you are expe­ri­enc­ing:

• Hyper­vig­i­lance

• Irri­tabil­i­ty

• Angry out­bursts

• Reduced work pro­duc­tiv­i­ty

• With­draw­ing from or avoid­ing social engage­ments

• Self-destruc­tive behav­ior (i.e., cut­ting, burn­ing, self-harm­ing)

• Hyper­sen­si­tiv­i­ty or over-the-top star­tle response

• Sleep chal­lenges (i.e., night­mares, trou­ble falling, or stay­ing asleep)

• Per­pet­u­al mem­o­ries that cre­ate dis­tress about the ACE

• Dis­tress­ing reminders about the ACE

• Are avoid­ing things relat­ed to the ACE

• Believ­ing that “I am bad”; “No one can be trust­ed”; or “I am ruined”

• Feel­ing stuck in fear, anger, guilt or shame

You can also seek help if you want guid­ance or ideas on how to man­age your symp­toms. Seek­ing help can fur­ther be help­ful in reduc­ing the dis­tress you may feel from your symp­toms. If you find that your typ­i­cal ways of cop­ing with your symp­toms aren’t work­ing or aren’t work­ing like they used to, this would be anoth­er time to seek assis­tance. Ther­a­py is an excel­lent way to get the help you need. Ther­a­py can make a dif­fer­ence in reduc­ing your symp­toms and empow­er­ing you. Not only will you find an unin­volved third par­ty and learn cop­ing strate­gies, but you will also have oppor­tu­ni­ties to reprocess your past.

Reach out below to start your path to heal­ing.

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In the next blog post, we will explore how trau­ma can affect your brain.