Blog

By Joyce Schelling, Bangor Daily News, December 16, 2019 Maine has the nation’s highest rate of anxiety and the third highest rate of depression among children ages 3-7. It is above the national rate for behavior problems and children diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Attention Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD). The average number of suicides per year by youth under age 20 is well above the national average and has risen by 50 percent in just five years. It’s time to ask if these frightening...

JOIN How-To: Join ACEs Connection How-To: Join ACEs Connection Groups INVITE How-To: Invite Others to Join ACEs Connection How-To: Invite Others to Join an ACEs Connection Group SIGN IN & UPDATE PROFILE How-To: Sign In to ACEs Connection How-To: Update Your Profile and Contact Info How-To: Add or Change a Profile Picture EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS How-To: Customize Your Email Notifications for ACEs Connection Main Site How-To: Customize Your Email Notifications for ACEs...

By Traci Pedersen, Psych Central, December 2, 2019 A new study published in the journal Neuroimage shows that inflammation may be responsible for the mental sluggishness that often accompanies illness. Many people who struggle with chronic illness report severe mental fatigue that they often describe as “brain fog” or “sluggishness.” This condition can be as debilitating as the disease itself. For the study, a research team from the University of Birmingham’s Centre for Human Brain Health...

By Maria Godoy, National Public Radio, December 17, 2019 For many people, a package of applesauce is simply a convenient lunchbox staple or a snack you turn to when you're feeling sick or can't keep much else down. But when Tunde Wey looks at applesauce, he sees a tool for social justice. Wey is the founder of BabyZoos, a start-up food company focusing its work in Kalamazoo, Mich. He launched the company this year after learning a startling statistic: Black infants born in Kalamazoo County...

By Barry M. Lester, Elisabeth Conradt, Linda L. LaGasse, et al., Pediatrics, 2019 OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine if variations in maternal care alter DNA methylation in term, healthy, 5-month-old infants. This work was based on landmark studies in animal models demonstrating that nurturing care by dams would alter their newborns’ stress responses through epigenetic mechanisms. We used breastfeeding as a proxy for animal maternal behavior. We hypothesized alterations in DNA methylation of...

Another episode from the podcast Healing Our Ghosts that might be of interest to you. https://www.wrestlingghosts.com/podcast/2019/12/17/heal-childhood-trauma-with-neurofeedback Sebern, at age four, was abducted and abused. Her parents never believed her and by the time she was a young adult, she ended up in lengthy psychiatric hospitalizations. She somehow pulled together and became a thriving psychotherapist and director of a residency program for severely disturbed youth. Despite Sebern...

It has been a busy and productive year for the Philadelphia ACE Task Force culminating in a big win for our Policy work group. Last week, on December 10, 2019, the Philadelphia City Council approved Resolution No. 19098900 , "Calling upon the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to recognize Secondary Traumatic Stress as a workplace hazard, recommend steps to address mental health injury as a psychological hazard in the workplace as they do with physical injury, and create a...

You probably know a few people who are stuck in bitterness. In big ways and small, you may be stuck there too. Bitterness is the seventh of the eight obstacles to healing from Childhood PTSD that I'm covering in my resilience series. I want to talk about what bitterness looks like, how to know if you’re “doing” it, and my suggestion to you if you are ready to be set free (though I think it might surprise you). The bitterness of other people is all around us (think commenters on Twitter,...

This is a selection of reports collected and shared, with edited highlights, to raise awareness of the intersection between racism, trauma, and suicidality. Young Black People Are Killing Themselves The numbers are shocking. Young black people are making suicide attempts and dying by suicide at record high rates. A November 2019 Pediatrics study found the rate of suicide attempts for black youths shot up an alarming 73 percent from 1991 to 2017, while suicide attempts decreased 7.5 percent...

A team of researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital say they plan to recruit hundreds of Boston-area women who had children around the time of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings to test the viability of large-scale screening of baby teeth. In a study published Tuesday, they argue that microscopic markings within children’s teeth could be a novel tool for detecting trauma. Early treatment, many doctors say, can head off health problems related to emotional wounds, especially mental health...

By Laurel Wamsley, National Public Radio, December 16, 2019 When LSU quarterback Joe Burrow won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday, he used his acceptance speech not only to thank his teammates, his family and his coach — but also to highlight the struggles of people in his small hometown in Ohio. "Coming from Southeast Ohio, it's a very impoverished area," Burrow said, in an emotional address during which he frequently brushed away tears. "The poverty rate is almost two times the national...

By Theresa Davis, Albuquerque Journal, December 16, 2019 The number of asylum seekers entering the United States has dropped in recent months. But hundreds of migrants are currently living in makeshift shelters or overcrowded government centers on the U.S.-Mexico border. A University of New Mexico team is working to treat the medical and mental health needs of those migrants. The UNM Health Sciences Center Border ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) team hosted a teleconference...