Stefan Molyneaux explains how the neurobiology of the brain is adversely affected by childhood abuse, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and even having an insecure attachment to one's mother. There is a clear correlation and an actual biological cause and effect between early trauma and behavior later in life.
The Amygdala (Fear Center) may be overreactive while the prefrontal cortex (executive center, decision making, morals, sense of self) is underdeveloped.
Interesting that ACEs overstimulate the amygdala- the Fear Center of the brain. One of the common characteristics of adult children of alcoholics is fear of authority. In experiments, when the amygdala was stimulated with an electrical current, the subjects reported a sense of being reprimanded by an authority.
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Note the close parallels between other effects of abuse and ACA behavior including:
Difficulty regulating emotion (over-react to changes over which they have no control)
Lack of cause and effect thinking (lock themselves into a course of action without giving serious consideration to alternate behaviors or possible consequences)
Inability to articulate our own emotions (we learned to keep our feelings down as children and kept them buried as adults)
___________________________________________________________________________________
Stressful, traumatizing experiences cause chronic elevated levels of neuroendocrine hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline, which can cause damage leading to difficulty learning, memory impairment, depression, insomnia, PTSD and ADD. In more severe cases it can increase the risk of criminal behavior.
The good news is that effective psychotherapy can help. Relapse for MDD (major depressive disorder) was 76% for those treated with antidepressant medication vs. just 31% for those who received therapy.
Physical exercise can also have a very beneficial effect on memory, cognition and improves learning and intelligence scores. Exercise acts as an antidepressant and slows the decline of memory and brain atrophy in aging humans.
The ACE Study is an ongoing collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente. Led by Co-principal Investigators Robert F. Anda, MD, MS, and Vincent J. Felitti, MD.
Check out the Orange County ACA website at: Orange County Adult Children
Showing posts with label ace study. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ace study. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
The Ace Study Revealed
The ACE Study is perhaps the largest scientific research study of its kind, analyzing the relationship between multiple categories of childhood trauma and health and behavioral outcomes later in life. Beginning in 1992, over 17,000 people participated in this comprehensive, ongoing collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente.
An Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) is defined as "physical abuse, emotional abuse or sexual abuse" before the age of 18. It also includes growing up experiencing;
-an alcohol and/or drug abuser in the household
-an incarcerated household member
-living with someone who is chronically depressed, mentally ill, institutionalized, or suicidal
-mother is treated violently
-having one or no parents
-emotional or physical neglect
The ACE definition so closely matches the one for Adult Children Of Alcoholics, they are practically synonymous.
The majority of people have at least one ACE.
All of these lead to trauma and whether the abuse was physical in nature or not, actually cause physical changes to a developing child's brain including abnormal development of the cortex. The amygdala of insecurely attached children are hyperactive and larger than those of securely attached children. They have a greater surging of cortisol and adrenaline (fight or flight response). Plus their prefrontal cortexes are smaller and so they are less able to control their fear and anger.
Unresolved ACEs can effect the health and behavior of the victim for decades and and even shorten their lifespan up to twenty years. The more types of ACEs you were exposed to, the more likely you will have resulting issues such as depression, addiction, heart disease, obesity and cancer later in life. People who have experienced 4 or more categories of ACEs are 4 to 12 times more likely to experience depression, drug abuse, alcoholism and suicide attempts than a person who has not experienced any. You can calculate your personal ACE score here: http://acestudy.org/
An introduction to The ACE Study:
Source: http://youtu.be/yT4tzwH_K8M
Essayist, author, and host of the Freedomain Radio Podcasts, Stefan Molyneux, believes that therapy with a good counselor can help reverse the effects of ACEs and lead to a healthier, happier life. In Part 1, Molyneux explains the correlation between childhood trauma and it's negative effects later in life:
Source: http://youtu.be/gbiq2-ukfhM
Part 2 features an interview with one of the leaders of the ACE study, Vincent J. Felitti, MD:
Source: http://youtu.be/NRaNwIdrKuc
This eye opening information points to the cause of many common problems and dysfunctions. The more this material is discovered and acknowledged, the better chance for understanding the cause, effectively treating it and stopping the cycle.
The ACE Study is an ongoing collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente. Led by Co-principal Investigators Robert F. Anda, MD, MS, and Vincent J. Felitti, MD.
Check out the Orange County ACA website at: Orange County Adult Children
An Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) is defined as "physical abuse, emotional abuse or sexual abuse" before the age of 18. It also includes growing up experiencing;
-an alcohol and/or drug abuser in the household
-an incarcerated household member
-living with someone who is chronically depressed, mentally ill, institutionalized, or suicidal
-mother is treated violently
-having one or no parents
-emotional or physical neglect
The ACE definition so closely matches the one for Adult Children Of Alcoholics, they are practically synonymous.
All of these lead to trauma and whether the abuse was physical in nature or not, actually cause physical changes to a developing child's brain including abnormal development of the cortex. The amygdala of insecurely attached children are hyperactive and larger than those of securely attached children. They have a greater surging of cortisol and adrenaline (fight or flight response). Plus their prefrontal cortexes are smaller and so they are less able to control their fear and anger.
Unresolved ACEs can effect the health and behavior of the victim for decades and and even shorten their lifespan up to twenty years. The more types of ACEs you were exposed to, the more likely you will have resulting issues such as depression, addiction, heart disease, obesity and cancer later in life. People who have experienced 4 or more categories of ACEs are 4 to 12 times more likely to experience depression, drug abuse, alcoholism and suicide attempts than a person who has not experienced any. You can calculate your personal ACE score here: http://acestudy.org/
An introduction to The ACE Study:
Source: http://youtu.be/yT4tzwH_K8M
Essayist, author, and host of the Freedomain Radio Podcasts, Stefan Molyneux, believes that therapy with a good counselor can help reverse the effects of ACEs and lead to a healthier, happier life. In Part 1, Molyneux explains the correlation between childhood trauma and it's negative effects later in life:
Source: http://youtu.be/gbiq2-ukfhM
Part 2 features an interview with one of the leaders of the ACE study, Vincent J. Felitti, MD:
Source: http://youtu.be/NRaNwIdrKuc
This eye opening information points to the cause of many common problems and dysfunctions. The more this material is discovered and acknowledged, the better chance for understanding the cause, effectively treating it and stopping the cycle.
The ACE Study is an ongoing collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente. Led by Co-principal Investigators Robert F. Anda, MD, MS, and Vincent J. Felitti, MD.
Check out the Orange County ACA website at: Orange County Adult Children
Monday, April 2, 2007
The Kind Of "ACE" You Don't Want To Gamble With!
In 1992 Dr. Vincent Felitti, head of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego and Dr. Robert Anda, researcher with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, began to collaborate on a large scale study of the incidence and effects of childhood trauma, known as the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study.
The ACE Study is a decade-long and ongoing study designed to examine the childhood origins of many of our Nation’s leading health and social problems.
ACE- Adverse Childhood Experiences
The concept of the ACE Study is that stressful or traumatic childhood experiences increase the risk of cognitive damage, re-victimization, disease and have a negative impact on behavior, health, and even longevity.
Abuse, neglect, witnessing domestic violence, or growing up with alcohol or other substance abuse, mental illness, parental discord, or crime in the home are common pathways to social, emotional, and cognitive impairments.
We now know from breakthroughs in neurobiology that ACEs disrupt neurodevelopment and can have lasting effects on brain structure and function.
ACEs have a strong influence on:
-adolescent health
-teen pregnancy
-smoking
-alcohol abuse
-illicit drug abuse
-sexual behavior
-mental health
-risk of revictimization
-stability of relationships
-performance in the workforce
ACEs increase the risk of:
-Heart disease
-Chronic Lung disease
-Liver disease
-Suicide
-Injuries
-HIV and STDs
-and other risks for the leading
causes of death
Implications
The effects of ACEs are long-term, powerful, cumulative, and likely to be invisible to health care
providers, educators, social service organizations, and policy makers because the linkage between
cause and effect is concealed by time. The original traumatic insults may not become manifest until much later in life.
When a child is wounded, the pain and negative long-term effects reverberate, thereby sustaining the cycle of abuse, neglect, violence and substance abuse, and mental illness. For example, ACEs greatly increase the risk of adult alcohol abuse or marriage to an alcoholic, perpetuating the adversities and their consequences. Thus, growing up with alcohol abuse contributes to many of the leading chronic health and social
problems in the United States.
The ACE Study suggests that stressful and traumatic childhood and adolescent experiences
literally become “biology” affecting brain structure and function (as well as endocrine, immune,
and other biologic functions) leading to persistent effects. Until now, these persistent effects
were “hidden” from the view of both neuroscientists and public health researchers.
We found that adults who reported any single category of adverse childhood experience were likely to have suffered multiple other categories during childhood. Children experiencing alcohol abuse in the home should be screened for other types of maltreatment and traumatic stressors—and vice versa!
Many of our nation’s leading health and social problems are directly tied to enduring neurodevelopmental consequences of growing up with alcohol abuse and related adverse experiences during childhood.
http://www.nacoa.net/pdfs/Anda%20NACoA%20Review_web.pdf
Check out the Orange County ACA website at: Orange County ACOA Meeting
The ACE Study is a decade-long and ongoing study designed to examine the childhood origins of many of our Nation’s leading health and social problems.
ACE- Adverse Childhood Experiences
The concept of the ACE Study is that stressful or traumatic childhood experiences increase the risk of cognitive damage, re-victimization, disease and have a negative impact on behavior, health, and even longevity.
Abuse, neglect, witnessing domestic violence, or growing up with alcohol or other substance abuse, mental illness, parental discord, or crime in the home are common pathways to social, emotional, and cognitive impairments.
We now know from breakthroughs in neurobiology that ACEs disrupt neurodevelopment and can have lasting effects on brain structure and function.
ACEs have a strong influence on:
-adolescent health
-teen pregnancy
-smoking
-alcohol abuse
-illicit drug abuse
-sexual behavior
-mental health
-risk of revictimization
-stability of relationships
-performance in the workforce
ACEs increase the risk of:
-Heart disease
-Chronic Lung disease
-Liver disease
-Suicide
-Injuries
-HIV and STDs
-and other risks for the leading
causes of death
Implications
The effects of ACEs are long-term, powerful, cumulative, and likely to be invisible to health care
providers, educators, social service organizations, and policy makers because the linkage between
cause and effect is concealed by time. The original traumatic insults may not become manifest until much later in life.
When a child is wounded, the pain and negative long-term effects reverberate, thereby sustaining the cycle of abuse, neglect, violence and substance abuse, and mental illness. For example, ACEs greatly increase the risk of adult alcohol abuse or marriage to an alcoholic, perpetuating the adversities and their consequences. Thus, growing up with alcohol abuse contributes to many of the leading chronic health and social
problems in the United States.
The ACE Study suggests that stressful and traumatic childhood and adolescent experiences
literally become “biology” affecting brain structure and function (as well as endocrine, immune,
and other biologic functions) leading to persistent effects. Until now, these persistent effects
were “hidden” from the view of both neuroscientists and public health researchers.
We found that adults who reported any single category of adverse childhood experience were likely to have suffered multiple other categories during childhood. Children experiencing alcohol abuse in the home should be screened for other types of maltreatment and traumatic stressors—and vice versa!
Many of our nation’s leading health and social problems are directly tied to enduring neurodevelopmental consequences of growing up with alcohol abuse and related adverse experiences during childhood.
http://www.nacoa.net/pdfs/Anda%20NACoA%20Review_web.pdf
Check out the Orange County ACA website at: Orange County ACOA Meeting
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