I've been recommended to take an ACES score evaluation and I finally did. I wanted to see if it would tell me anything or help provide any context. I did take it and got an 8/10 on adverse childhood events. Then it provided information about the potential issues that can come with a high ACES score. It recommended I take a positive childhood events evaluation and got a 0.
This was really unfulfilling for me. Has anyone else had this kind of experience? I have known I had trauma and that it affects me, I've been in therapy for it. Am I missing something? Why should I have gotten this score and what on earth is it supposed to offer besides a hollow notion of the hell I lived through and a list of health problems?
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ClassicalBlueKitty
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It is the "adverse childhood events" quiz. And not really, I am not sure it does much to help with like once you're an adult? I'm wondering if I've missed something I should have gotten out of it though
Just rolled out of bed here at 6:00 am in the morning. Welcome (or not) to the ACES club. Later on my time, I’ll try and share lots of information with you. Have you also done the resilience survey that pairs with ACE?
Sorry for leaving you hanging. The time difference between here and there is a shocker. Nevertheless, I was heartened to see your post this morning regarding your survey results. I say that because, although there is a now a very strong focus on the protection of small children from the threat posed by ACES, I get the impression that adults like us are largely left to fend for ourselves. However, before griping too much, I should share some stuff with you.
Background
The ACES framework is a standardised one. In other words, everybody who does the survey is exposed to the same 10 questions. Those questions grew out of the work of Dr. Vincent Felitti, who when researching and practising as a psychologist, realised that he was seeing a lot of patients whose bad health outcomes as adults could be traced back to their difficult childhoods. When he initially presented his findings, however, he was criticised. Luckily, however, in the crowd was somebody from the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) who realised the significance of what Felitti was suggesting.
Subsequently, one of the biggest public health surveys in US history was launched among 17,000 patients of the Kaiser-Permanente network. The results obtained included shocking findings regarding the health outcomes of adult survivors. I won't bore you with that data here, but I would encourage you to do some reading.
An initial set of findings was published by Felitti in 1998. You can find a copy on the American Journal of Preventative Medicine website.
That article was then edited and published as "The relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences to Adult Health Turning Gold into Lead"
Personally, I am not sure where you can find an English language version of the second article in full. All I managed to find was an English re-translation of the original that had been published in Germany (in German).
General Resources:
acesaware.org/ (State of California) (biased towards paediatric cases)
Literally hundreds on articles have subsequently been published (I've read many of them). One good one is from the Lancet (the oldest medical publication in the world).
As an adult patient, the best book I found was "Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal" by Donna Jackson Nakazawa (it contains reprints of both the ACES and Resilience surveys.
Be warned, however, that the focus of lots of other books seems to be prevention/treatment among infant (paediatric) cases.
Final Comment:
My own ACE issues came to light after more than five decades as a result of an initial depression diagnosis, for which I am being treated using cognitive behavioural therapy. Having said that, I have also seen ACES referred to as a form of CPTSD. Accordingly, if you are seeking active treatment for the legacy of your experiences, you will need to get some professional input as to what would be the best treatment option for you.
Perhaps all that was overkill..... Used to work in the medical marketing research industry, and old habits die hard. Whatever the case, please don't feel that you have to handle ACES alone.
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