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Aurora Limb

Ms. Hunter

English 1201

February 08 2022

Literature Review

This paper will explore the side-effects of early developmental trauma on the overall health and

mental stability in adulthood. Recent studies have linked early adverse childhood experience

(ACE’s) to plethora of physical and mental health concerns, including 5 of the 10 leading causes

of death (CDC). Yet despite these recent studies, there is little to no public awareness about what

constitutes as an ACE or public discussion about preventative measures. This paper will seek to

inform the audience about adverse childhood experiences, the effects, and argue for proactive,

trauma informed way of treating health rather than the reactive system we currently use.

Firstly: What is trauma? Surely, when we think of the word the first thing that comes to mind is

war-torn veterans from either WW1, WW2, or Vietnam. But trauma is not confined to just the

battlefield. Rather, it is an array of experiences that include not only physical, but sexual and

emotional, stemming from somatic dysregulation within our nervous systems, not simply

confined to our brain as we previously thought. Initially, one of the only ways that we

understood trauma was from the WW1 diagnosis termed “Shell-shocked”, which is essentially

the modern day diagnosis of PTSD. We also believed that in order to be diagnosed, we needed to

have at least some semblance of conscious awareness of the situation, which allowed to doctors

and parents to dismiss the idea of childhood trauma altogether. Today, with modern day MRI

scans and test that allow us to see the cortisol levels in infants as young a six months, we have a
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new lens of viewing and quantifying trauma, which includes trauma that stems from early

childhood experiences.

One of the major key points to understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences and its

effects on adult health is a brief lesson in neurology. Broken down in its simplest forms, we have

two cognitive systems, our limbic system, which houses our brain stem, thalamus, hypothalamus,

amygdala, cerebellum and our prefrontal cortex. The limbic system is responsible for all of our

fight, flight, freeze responses as well as regulating our emotions and establishing our punishment

and reward systems. This system, more or less, is our “animal system” and is more or less fully

functional at birth. Our prefrontal cortex, however, which is responsible for all of our cognitive,

logical thoughts, takes quite a few years to develop, especially when compared to other

mammals. Adverse Childhood Experiences are essentially any experiences that happen in our

primary years (from prenatal to about 7 years of age) that give stimulation or lack of stimulation

that dysregulates the very sensitive limbic system (Heller, Laurence, and LaPierre 98). This can

include having a depressed mother that is not emotionally available, having parents that are

enmeshed in substance abuse, an absent parent, being exposed to domestic or sexual violence,

etc.

Secondly, these experiences, if exposed to them for short or prolonged periods of time,

can have lasting effects on our bodies and emotional processing. According to the CDC, 5 of the

leading 10 causes of death are associated with ACE’s. Reducing ACE’s amongst adults could

deplete the depression rates as much as 44% (“Adverse Childhood Experiences (Aces)”). As Dr.
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Gabor Maté, one of the leading researchers on trauma states: “All of the diagnoses that you deal

with - depression, anxiety, ADHD, bipolar illness, post traumatic stress disorder, even psychosis,

are significantly rooted in trauma. They are manifestations of trauma. Therefore the diagnoses

don't explain anything. The problem in the medical world is that we diagnose somebody and we

think that is the explanation. He's behaving that way because he is psychotic. She's behaving that

way because she has ADHD. Nobody has ADHD, nobody has psychosis - these are processes

within the individual. It's not a thing that you have. This is a process that expresses your life

experience. It has meaning in every single case” ( 38).

Thirdly, while we are beginning to publicly have the mental health conversation, we are

failing to address one of the leading and primary causes for our modern day epidemic. Instead,

we succumb to a form of victim blaming and prescription purgatory. This is very clearly outlined

in the documentary: Not Enough Apologies: Trauma Stories, where it highlights youth who have

been victims of a broken foster care and family system, and how the system not only fails to

understand the root of these youths behavioral problems, but also fails to rehabilitate and

integrate them into healthy adulthood (Freyberg). We treat the symptoms and ignore the root

causes. And those who are addressing it, fail to make it digestible to those who are affected.

When interviewing four of my close friends, all of which have ACE scores higher than 6, they all

noted the lack of trauma informed professionals when they did have the courage to seek help.

The tides are beginning to shift, and some schools are implementing Trauma-Informed Practice

(TIPs), such as daily check-in’s on students emotional status. Teachers are learning about

attachment styles and how to help students with avoidant attachment and how to better aid with

school and home stress management (Robertson, Hannah, et al.). But public awareness is still

spotty at best.
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Fourthly, I think while the research and books are available to the public, much of it

hasn’t been broken down in a digestible fashion for those who can utilize it in practice. These

outstanding and credible doctors are trying their best to educate while still using complex

medical jargon. The CDC does a great job at summarizing the data in an easily digestible

fashion, and in fact gives posters and pamphlets for parents, educators and children alike

(“Adverse Childhood Experiences (Aces)”. But medical practitioners are doing themselves and

their patients a disservice but simply stating that many of the leading causes of death, such as a

multitude of cancers and diabetes, are simply due to genetics. As Dr. Gabor Maté points out in

his book, When The Body Says No, many of the leading causes of illness and death have deep

roots connecting to our limbic system and the way it was taught to view and regulate its

emotions. Suppression of emotions like anger and sadness can have a deep and lasting impact,

such as elevated levels of cortisol and a dysregulated nervous and endocrine system (88-92).

I believe the most difficult aspect of this paper is not gathering the data or constructing

the argument, but rather summarizing the data in a clear, concise and easily digestible fashion for

the reader.
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Working Bibliography

“Adverse Childhood Experiences (Aces).” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention, 2 Apr. 2021,

https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/index.html.

“Adverse Childhood Experiences (Aces).” Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) - Child

Welfare Information Gateway,

https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/preventing/overview/framework/aces/.

Freyberg, Frederica, director. Not Enough Apologies: Trauma Stories . PBS, Public Broadcasting

Service, 13 May 2019, https://www.pbs.org/video/not-enough-apologies-8bdjrb/. Accessed

6 Feb. 2022.

Fruth, Emily. “ACE Interview Questions .” 4 Feb. 2022.

Gibson, Lindsay C. Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from

Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents. New Harbinger Publications, Inc., 2015.

Heller, Laurence, and Aline LaPierre. Healing Developmental Trauma How Early Trauma

Affects Self-Regulation, Self-Image, and the Capacity for Relationship. North Atlantic

Books, 2012.

Maté, Gabor. “Stress, Hormones, Repression and Cancer .” When the Body Says No: Exploring
the Stress -Disease Connection, VERMILION, 2019, pp. 88–92.

Maté, Gabor, and Levine, Peter. In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with

Addiction. North Atlantic Books, 2020.

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Morgan, Richard. “There's a Score to Quantify Childhood Trauma. Some Health Experts Want

You to Know Yours. .” Washintonpost.com, 15 May 2021,

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/adverse-childhood-experiences-score-

trauma-health/2021/05/14/e375cc62-b35e-11eb-a980-a60af976ed44_story.html. Accessed

7 Feb. 2022.

Robertson, Hannah, et al. “Teachers' Attitudes toward Trauma-Informed Practice: Associations

with Attachment and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).” Psychology of Education

Review , vol. 45, no. 2, Sept. 2021, pp. 62–74., https://doi.org/https://web-p-ebscohost-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/ehost/detail/detail?vid=7&sid=2507eac5-9686-43ed-af86-

96c4b81e05f2%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d

%3d#db=pbh&AN=152661444.