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I'm Kelly ohoro and this is adaptable
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Behavior explained hi everybody thanks
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for tuning in today we're going to talk
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about the adverse childhood experience
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study today and why that matters and why
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we need to understand how what happened
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to us during the ages of zero to 18 can
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really profoundly affect the way that we
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interact in our life in our
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relationships but most profoundly are
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behaviors in adulthood as well as our
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health issues that are associated with
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things that happen to us and because of
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this adverse childhood experience study
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we have been able to understand that the
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long-term impact of childhood trauma on
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people's physical and mental health is
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completely profound and not separate and
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now we have the research to substantiate
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that so back in 1995 to 97 Kaiser
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Permanente out of San Diego conducted a
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study with 17 000 participants where
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they asked these participants 10
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questions that were related to to their
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childhood experiences and a social
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worker was in charge of this and they
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correlated the experiences from
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childhood to later illness in life and
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so the adverse childhood experiences
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directly impacted Health circumstances
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that they were being treated for at
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so these 10 questions focused on three
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subtypes abuse which includes physical
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emotional and sexual abuse neglect both
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physical and emotional neglect so this
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um I don't get hugs and kisses when I
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fall down this can be my dad works all
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the time and when he comes home he
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acknowledges that I'm there but there's
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not really any affection or tenderness
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that he missed me or that I matter and
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so a lot of times with our cases as a
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therapist people come in and they'll say
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my childhood was great you know my
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parents checked all the boxes there were
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really no profound issues and then when
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we do a little bit of a deeper dive into
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their stories what we're seeing is that
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there was actually a pretty profound uh
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experience of of emotional neglect and
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it's not anything that would you know
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have CPS take children away but it does
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impact the nervous system and it and it
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teaches us that we're not necessarily
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loved or safe in the world or we can't
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at least count on the fact that our
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emotional needs are really important and
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so emotional and physical neglect are
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substantial and significant factors with
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the adverse childhood experience
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questionnaire and oftentimes minimized
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by patients the third category or
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subtype is household challenges so this
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includes substance abuse mental illness
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by a parent or a sibling domestic
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violence criminal Behavior if there was
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a parent or a family member that had
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issues with with the law
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parental separation or divorce is
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another marker for the adverse childhood
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experience a questionnaire and and of
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course with that parent separation
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includes the death of a parent and so
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these 10 factors really negatively
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contribute to the nervous system being
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in a state of a high cortisol or adrenal
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response that's really meant to be
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temporary and when a lot of these uh
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things happen in a person's life over
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time there's a build effect where it's
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meant to be temporary that we have
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experiences of fight flight or freeze
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and when something is prolonged because
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someone has so many of these factors
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we're we're really impacted in our body
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and and of course the cortisol and
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adrenal response can negatively impact
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all of our body systems and so I'm going
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to talk a bit about that in another
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episode and so these studies revealed
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this strong leak between the aces
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negative Health outcomes in adulthood so
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individuals who experienced a higher
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number of Aces were found to have
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significantly increased risk of various
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physical and mental issues such as heart
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disease cancer depression substance
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abuse and of course other chronic
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diseases and so when when patients were
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in the clinic and they were being
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treated for these medical issues what
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they found is an extremely high
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correlation between an increased number
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of Aces and profound impact on medical
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Wellness or or physical health so the
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accumulation of a number of Aces meaning
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when we're asked that that questionnaire
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and we as therapists ask our clients the
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same 10 questions maybe not in list form
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but over time and we're developing an
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idea in our mind about how did this
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person's nervous system have to weather
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their childhood storm and the more Aces
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a person has the higher their chances of
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developing health issues and engaging in
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Risky behaviors so when I have a client
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that talks about some of the things that
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they do to manage the distress in their
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body I'm already thinking I wonder what
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happened to them and part of what's
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awesome about this study is it started
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to change the way we as a mental health
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professionals as well as medical
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professionals view what's going on in Us
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and how previous experiences were really
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the reason that our bodies are acting
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the way that they're acting so the World
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Health Organization understands this and
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they're actually looking at changing
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physical health mental health to overall
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Wellness or health because we understand
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that the brain is the governor of all of
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our systems and it's the computer that
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that drives all of our bodily systems
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and it's not separate the brain is what
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is affected by our stimulus and our
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environment and so what's awesome is
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it's starting to change the Paradigm
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from mental health and and Behavioral
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Health and physical health as separate
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entities to an overall
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um experience of Wellness that's in one
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category so the good news about this
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study is it's starting to change the way
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that people think about wellness and
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illness medical doctors are even being
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trained in this way and nurses at this
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point not in all schools of course and
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it's still a pretty big paradigm shift
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in a lot of medical professionals
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thinking because it wasn't the way they
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were trained initially because we didn't
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have this information to correlate you
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know causation and um and illness as a
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as a having been contributed to because
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of what happened to us as as a child so
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because of this study there's been a lot
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of change in the way that organizations
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and agencies develop interventions and
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strategies to prevent or mitigate the
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effects of Aces like we now know we need
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to support people in their healing
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process breaking the cycle of
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intergenerational trauma and recognizing
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that we need to address when children
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are having difficult times and they
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don't have the supports that they need
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or some of these adverse experiences are
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happening we understand if we don't
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intervene earlier that this has a
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profound impact on later later Health
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and Wellness in the person
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the most important part of all this is
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it shifts all of our thinking as we
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become aware of it and why I wanted to
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discuss this in a podcast is because
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people just don't know and we really
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need to be thinking about not why does
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this person act this way or why are they
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behaving this way or why are they
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drinking so much or why are they smoking
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weed all day long every day not why are
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they doing these things in a judgmental
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way but what happened to them that has
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made them have to deal with their
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nervous system and try to numb or to try
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to manage the dysregulation in their
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bodies with with means that are not
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necessarily in the best interest of the
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of the body itself and so the hope is
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that when people become aware of this
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we start to shift our Focus to not
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what's wrong with you why are you acting
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this way but really what happened to you
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and understanding understanding the
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impact of these adverse life experiences
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and in a person's history is really
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important because it helps us especially
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as therapists focus on the current
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symptoms but more importantly what
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happened to cause those current symptoms
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and so it leads to more effective
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treatment strategies and what's really
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lucky for me being in the industry at
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this time is it's become in common it's
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becoming commonplace knowledge we are
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now aware that we have to use modalities
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that address the cellularly stored
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information in a person's nervous system
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based on what they've gone through and
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we can't just talk them down we can't
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just help someone change their states of
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anxiety by giving them you know
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techniques or talking about reframing
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things or even just understanding what
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happened to us isn't quite enough to
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change the way our body shows up in real
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so when a person is experienced child
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it's really important that they can get
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some help that changes the way the
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neurophysiology is being affected in
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their body by going to a therapist that
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can do something in a bottom-up
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treatment like EMDR therapy or somatic
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experiencing or sensory motor therapy
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again all modalities that can address
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the body and how what we know because of
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this wonderful study that Kaiser did and
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what we know about how our physical
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symptoms are oftentimes tied to
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unresolved stress that that lies in the
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body and hasn't been fully reprocessed
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or reviewed so overall this adverse
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childhood experience study It's Been
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instrumental in raising awareness about
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long-term consequences from childhood
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trauma it advocates for trauma-informed
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care and most importantly it's helping
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to change the Paradigm of of supporting
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our services in health care and
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education our social services and
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promoting a better understanding of the
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importance of early intervention when
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things are happening in in the lives of
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of the people around us and that we
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really need to be more proactive to
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support Children and Families when
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they're dealing with problems related to
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stress in their body to acting out to
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situations that are not ideal for
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today's Behavior so just to recap today
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we talked about the adverse childhood
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experience study and how there were 17
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000 people in a medical study out of San
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Diego that were asked 10 questions that
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were in three categories abuse neglect
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and household dysfunction and the
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greater number of categories that one
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would Mark in that in that questionnaire
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would increase the likelihood of risky
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behavior in adolescence and adulthood as
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well as increase in significant physical
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physical and medical issues and ailments
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in later life and so now we have
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evidence that shows the parallel between
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those things and it has helped to change
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the Paradigm when we approach medical
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issues as well as mental health issues
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that not just what's wrong with you and
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why are you acting a certain way or
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physically what is contributing to why
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you're acting the way that you're acting
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and what happened to you that has caused
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the level of physical the stress in your
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body in prolonged States over time so
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thank you so much for tuning in I hope
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that was helpful and if you'd like to
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learn a little bit more I'm going to
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dive in deeper in the next episode and
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talk about some of those risky behaviors
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as well as the physical issues that
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happen in our body and the illnesses
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that can be attributed to these adverse
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childhood experiences don't forget to
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lead with love it'll never steer you
