On Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Religious Trauma

Why does On Monsters and Phantoms matter?

Childhood trauma and exposure to prolonged toxic stress can—and often does—lead to physical, mental and behavioral health disorders in adults. Neuroscience around pediatric neural and brain development tells us why: the cortisol flood rewires our brains, as well as our nervous and endocrine systems. Physiologically speaking, we get messed up. Now, health practitioners are beginning to ask What happened to you? in addition to What are your symptoms? to gain a more comprehensive understanding of their patients afflicted with mental health and other disorders.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association have identified adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) as a national epidemic we must better understand and face, because we now know that ACEs impact our perception of reality and herald other maladies later in life.

Current data tells us that depression, anxiety and suicide cases are on the rise. The question we need to ask is how many of these cases actually stem from ACEs? Likely a majority. We must urgently address ACEs by having broader and more regular conversations about them and their impact.

Though trauma-informed care is evolving, we don’t understand everything about how to truly help the traumatized lead resilient lives, nor do we completely understand how to determine who, after surviving ACEs, will be resilient and who won’t. Epigenetics, environment, education, personality and support systems play a role in resilience, but we don’t fully know exactly how and to what degree. One ACEs survivor may lead a normal and productive life, while a similar survivor may overdose on heroin or shoot up a grocery store.

When I sensed the first itch to write On Monsters and Phantoms, I immersed myself in the ACEs literature, beginning with Nadine Burke Harris’, Robert Anda, M.D. and Vincent J. Felitti’s, M.D., seminal work on linking childhood trauma to negative health outcomes in adults, which launched a national conversation on the topic in the early 2000s. I also researched the concept of scrupulosity—a form of obsessive compulsive disorder involving religious or moral obsessions—and how that condition could be born from ACEs. Since then, I have linked with nationally-renown ACEs thought leaders and University of Florida research juggernauts to glean more insight into ACEs and human behavior. I have also learned more about Religious Trauma Syndrome from noted psychiatrist and author Dr. Marlene Winell.

If this is your first foray into the world of ACEs and want to learn more, I recommend two immediate stops:

  • The ACEs-Too-High online community, where you can keep an eye on emerging trends, research, discoveries and personal testimonies. There you can learn your ACEs score. Per that site, there are 10 types of childhood trauma measured in the ACE Study. Five are personal:

    • physical abuse

    • verbal abuse

    • sexual abuse

    • physical neglect

    • emotional neglect

    Five are related to other family members:

    • a parent who’s an alcoholic

    • a mother who’s a victim of domestic violence

    • a family member in jail

    • a family member diagnosed with a mental illness

    • and the disappearance of a parent through divorce, death or abandonment

  • Resilience: The Biology of Stress & The Science of Hope by KPJR Films

Here’s another excellent resource for ACEs and their impact on our life-long health.

Finally, I advocate for making religious trauma a recognized adverse childhood experience, as there is a growing understanding that religious trauma can, and often does, have lifelong impact. I invite you to watch this video.