Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) scores and more
ACE scores are a unique look at trauma and how it manifests in the body as illness. Based on a study by the CDC and Kaiser in San Diego, it looked at 10 common ‘traumas’ in a child’s life and connected that information to rates of disease and well being in their patients. The CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study is one of the largest investigations of childhood abuse and neglect and later-life health and well-being. The original study was done on 17,000 system patients. While this is a predictor, it is not a guarantee that having these traumas will cause health conditions, but you have a greater likelihood of suffering from them, with these factors in your childhood. This work continues with expanded studies, bring more clarity and information to help understand the complex nature of childhood trauma and how it affects the human body.
As you will have noted in my previous blog, I believe that traumas rarely happen in a vacuum. It is often generational traumas that will be reflected in the traumas perpetrated on young children. Traumatized people, often unknowingly, traumatize others. Often these traumas are linked to genetic markers in our DNA. Clearing any of the debris, is a way to shift not only the outcomes, but also the generational legacy of these traumas. Work by esteemed people like Dr Joy Degruy and Dr. Maria Yellow Horse Braveheart and others, are bringing the information and research about generational traumas to public attention.
For more details and documentation regarding various outcomes from high ACE scores, check out this link. If you would like to take the ACE score test yourself, here is another link. For the record, my personal ACE score is a 7 out of 10. Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in this blog are reflective of my personal path and experience. They are not presented as ‘truth’ to anyone but myself. I hope that they might spur insights in your own life and practices, but each of us have our own journey.