“ACEs” is an acronym for Adverse Childhood Experiences and is a major research study done on the effects of early childhood traumatic experiences like abuse, neglect and household dysfunction. This landmark study shows that adversity and high frequent exposure to trauma in childhood can affect adult physical & mental health, behavioural as well as social interactions.
When a child experiences multiple ACEs over time without intervention, it changes the child’s brain and body. Excessive activation of stress response systems can then disrupt the developing brain causing cognitive impairment, higher risk of infection & autoimmune disease, disruption in hormonal systems and even the way DNA is read and transcribed.
The stress hormones that have been activated, if untreated, repeated and intense becomes toxic stress. The over production and release of adrenaline and cortisol causes a prolonged state of fear that leads a person to walk around life in survival mode. If left unaddressed, toxic stress can affect development, growth and lifelong health problems including chronic illness, mental health & obesity.
While the ideal response to this study is prevention, raising awareness and creating trauma informed systems can help a person recover from the negative health and behavioural effects of toxic stress. Trauma informed therapy focused on positive childhood experiences and creating connection has the ability to mitigate the effects of traumatic childhood experiences and buffer against toxic stress.
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