INTEGRATIVE MENTAL HEALTH
What and Why?
ACEs: Adverse Childhood Events Study
ACEs: Adverse Childhood Events Study shows us the need for an integrative approach (wholisitic= whole person) to therapy.
Kaiser Permanente in 1998 threw its weight behind this study, so its one of the largest, robust studies in modern times that reveals in stark terms the legacy of trauma.
The ACE Study examined the relationship between certain childhood experiences that are often traumatic (childhood is defined as 18 years or younger) and the risks associated with them throughout the lifespan, specifically health, mortality, and wellbeing. Only 10 specific types of experiences were included in the original study. Additional experiences compound your risk. Please don’t disregard experiences that aren’t on the list. It isn’t meant to be an exhaustive catalog of trauma.
These 10 experiences consisted of either personal or environmental sources of trauma. Personal includes the usual suspects: 1) physical abuse, 2) verbal abuse, 3) sexual abuse 4) physical neglect 5) emotional neglect. 6-10 are environmental, i.e. family, experiences: 6) an alcoholic parent 7) your mother experienced domestic violence in the home 8) a family member in jail 9) a mentally ill family member and 10) losing a parent through divorce, death or abandonment.
The cumulative impact of these experiences was shocking. An ACEs score of 4 and up places you at high risk for serious and chronic health conditions, as well as disability, and a score of 6 or higher actually place you at risk of dying- up to 20 years- prematurely.
1. The ACE Study revealed six main discoveries: (from ACESTOOHigh.COM)
ACEs are more common than you think…nearly two-thirds (64%) of adults have at least one.
They cause adult onset of chronic disease, such as cancer and heart disease, as well as mental illness, violence and being a victim of violence
ACEs don’t occur alone….if you have one, there’s an 87% chance that you have two or more.
The more ACEs you have, the greater the risk for chronic disease, mental illness, violence and being a victim of violence. People have an ACE score of 0 to 10. Each type of trauma counts as one, no matter how many times it occurs. You can think of an ACE score as a cholesterol score for childhood trauma. For example, people with an ACE score of 4 are twice as likely to be smokers and seven times more likely to be alcoholic. Having an ACE score of 4 increases the risk of emphysema or chronic bronchitis by nearly 400 percent, and attempted suicide by 1200 percent. People with high ACE scores are more likely to be violent, to have more marriages, more broken bones, more drug prescriptions, more depression, and more autoimmune diseases. People with an ACE score of 6 or higher are at risk of their lifespan being shortened by 20 years.
ACEs are responsible for a significant amount of workplace absenteeism, and for costs in health care, emergency response, mental health and criminal justice. So, the fifth finding from the ACE Study is that childhood adversity contributes to most of our major chronic health, mental health, economic health and social health issues.
On a population level, it doesn’t matter which four ACEs a person has; the harmful consequences are the same. The brain cannot distinguish one type of toxic stress from another; it’s all toxic stress, with the same impact.
Develop a Healthy and Balanced Relationship with your Body
The first step is to establish a balanced state. Neuroception, along with interception and proprioception, forms the basis of the foundation we lay. Below is a quick read with Dr. Porges explaining neuroception. Interception and proprioception is developing somatic attunement so that you are in relationship with your own body. You can identify your needs and intuitive guidance through a balanced state. This extends to mindfulness practice to develop attunement to yourself in the present moment. This is the basis of any strategy to establish a healthy relationship with your body. Otherwise, you are disempowered. There are many natural paths to improve your wellbeing, which is the ultimate goal and objectives of the Integrative Mental Health program.