April 29, 2018, Adverse Childhood Experiences and Resilient Love.
Amanda and I attended a fascinating presentation by the Traverse Bay Childhood Advocacy Center (TBCAC) that focused on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
These are things that happen to all of us as children that cause extreme stress. The presentation focused mostly on ACEs that would qualify as abusive, such as beatings, neglect, harsh verbal ridicule, sexual contact, bullying, etc., but ACEs can be emotionally difficult events such as serious illness or injury, death of a loved one, parents’ divorce, etc.
People with a high number of ACEs tend to struggle with more emotional conditions such as anxiety or other mental health challenges during their adult years than people with fewer ACEs.
This may seem like intuitive common sense, but the statistical data backing up the research presented in this event was quite impressive an eye opening. Some aspects were actually quite surprising.
The data indicated that people with high ACEs scores also suffered more physical ailments such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc.
Traumatic experiences in adulthood can have similar effects as illustrated in PTSD, but children seem to be more vulnerable. We can’t put our children in protective cocoons, but we should take reasonable measures to reduce their risk of ACEs and also build their resilience to endure trauma with minimal impact. I believe the most important thing for resilience is for parents to communicate love consistently. Everyone needs to feel respected and valued through love.