Individual Research Work: ACEs and Childhood Psychopathology

Adverse Childhood Experiences, or what we call ACEs, are difficult and

potentially harmful events that can happen to children probably between the ages of 0
and 17. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these
events include things like being a victim of violence, abuse, or neglect, witnessing
violence at home or in the community, or having a family member trying to commit
suicide. Furthermore, these triggering experiences may also include aspects of the
child's surroundings that can make them feel unsafe or unstable. For instance growing
up in a household with issues like substance abuse, mental health problems, or the
instability caused by parental separation or family members being in jail. I think it's
important to understand that the examples given above are not the only possible
adverse childhood experiences and that there are many other challenging examples in
each situation, such as not having enough food, facing homelessness, or experiencing
discrimination, that can also impact a child's health and well-being as they grow up.
Moreover, the CDC has outlined the consequences of having Adverse Childhood
Experiences on child psychopathology or mental health and that, ACEs can lead to
long-lasting negative effects on a person's health, happiness, as well as future
opportunities as these experiences can increase the chances of problems like injuries,
infections, and serious illnesses throughout life. Additionally, ACEs, along with factors
like living in neighborhoods with limited resources or racial segregation, can create a
type of stress called toxic stress. Talking about toxic stress, toxic stress refers to
prolonged or extended stress that can harm a child's brain development, immune
system, and ability to handle stress. This can further affect their attention,
decision-making, and learning abilities, and children who go through toxic stress may
struggle with forming healthy relationships, have unstable work histories as adults, and
face challenges with money, jobs, and feeling sad throughout their lives. Unfortunately,
as stated above of having a future complication, these effects can also impact their
children in the future as some of these children may experience additional toxic stress
due to historical and ongoing traumas caused by systemic racism for example, or the
effects of poverty, resulting from educational and economic opportunities limited to
them.
 To provide more insights regarding the impact of ACEs on child psychopathology,
several studies have provided information about how these difficult childhood
experiences (ACEs) can affect children's mental health. Corcoran and McNulty (2018)
for example discovered a strong link between ACEs and feeling upset and, Derin et al.
(2022) added to this by finding that not getting enough emotional support as a child and
the family's income level could predict higher chances of anxiety issues in teenage
years, and Wilke et al. (2020) found that ACEs were also connected to using technology
in a not-so-healthy way. Lastly, in Germany, Elling et al. (2022) looked at a type of
attachment style called fearful attachment and found it made the link between tough
childhood experiences and social anxiety disorder and major depression stronger.
The research by McPhail et al. (2022) discovered a strong association between
Adverse Childhood Experiences and adults getting diagnosed with a disorder called
Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) in very secure places. ACEs like being
physically or sexually hurt, and parents using substances wrongly, made it more likely
for someone to be diagnosed with ASPD. The chances of having ASPD went up when
people had more types of ACEs. Surprisingly, being emotionally mistreated didn't seem
to have a big connection with getting diagnosed with ASPD, maybe because it's trickier
to remember compared to other types of abuse. The study says that both things one
inherits (genetic) and things that happen around them (environmental), like parents
using substances wrongly, play a role in the link between ACEs and ASPD. Moreover,
some people with ASPD might not be noticed as much because other mental problems
or being in the early stages of treatment might overshadow them and that is the problem
with comorbidity and that ACEs can affect the diagnosis of other mental health
conditions.
I think that diagnosing ASPD requires careful consideration due to its potential
comorbidities, which are other mental health conditions coexisting with ASPD. These
comorbidities may include but are not limited to substance use disorders, Depression
and anxiety disorder, ADHD, borderline, and narcissistic as discussed in class.
Therefore It's important to note that symptoms of ASPD can overlap with other
disorders, making accurate diagnosis challenging.
References:

Corcoran M, McNulty M. Examining the role of attachment in the relationship between

childhood adversity, psychological distress and subjective well-being. Child

Abuse & Neglect. 2018;76:297–309. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.11.012.

Derin S, Selman SB, Alyanak B, Soylu N. The role of adverse childhood experiences

and attachment styles in social anxiety disorder in adolescents. Clinical Child

Psychology and Psychiatry. 2022;27(3):644–657. doi:

10.1177/13591045221078085.

Elling C, Forstner AJ, Seib-Pfeifer L-E, Mücke M, Stahl J, Geiser F, Schumacher J,

Conrad R. Social anxiety disorder with comorbid major depression – Why fearful

attachment style is relevant. Journal of Psychiatric Research. 2022;147:283–290.

doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.01.019.

McPhail, E., Meggison, N., Yanson, I., Majumder, P., & Sales, C. (2022). Exploring the

effects of early trauma in a forensic high secure population: Evaluating

associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and diagnosis of

Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD). British Journal of Psychiatry Open,

8(S1), S60. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2022.216

Wilke N, Howard AH, Morgan M, Hardin M. Adverse childhood experiences and

problematic media use: The roles of attachment and impulsivity. Vulnerable

Children and Youth Studies. 2020;15(4):344–355. doi:

10.1080/17450128.2020.1734706.