3 Women 3 Ways

WHEN ACES HIGH IS A BAD THING: ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES There was a time when people believed that children are resilient and that if something bad happened to them, they would just be able to adapt and grow up and get on with their lives. Besides, there weren’t that many traumatic things that could happen to kids anyway. Then the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study revealed a major problem with that thinking. Turns out there are multiple traumatic experiences that can and frequently do, happen to children and they commonly lead to adults with mental problems, chronic diseases, and who are victimized and victimizers. In the nearly 20 years since the ACE Study came out, how has the information been used and adapted; how have policies changed; and do we see courts, institutions, organizations, and therapists who have changed policies and procedures because of this astounding research? Vincent J. Felitti, MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Senior Editor of the Permanente