Adverse Childhood Experiences - Nafeeza Hussain

Adverse Childhood experiences can include physical and emotional abuse, neglect, and household violence to name a few. ACEs originated in a groundbreaking study conducted in 1995 by the Centers for Disease Control and the Kaiser Permanente healthcare organization in California. Research shows a correlation between early childhood adversity and poor outcomes later in a child's life. Stress explains how ACEs can build up and trigger biological reactions that lead to those poor outcomes.
Toxic stress is used to describe extensive and scientific knowledge about the effects of excessive activation and how this affects the development of a child's brain and other systems in the body, including the immune and metabolic regulatory systems. When a child experiences multiple ACEs over time, especially without a proper support system from relatives/adults to provide buffering protection, the experiences can trigger an excessive and long-lasting stress response which can deteriorate physical and mental health. The cumulative burden of adverse experiences has been shown to cause negative effects on physiological, cognitive, behavioral, and psychological functions.

How ACEs affect Neurological Functioning: Stressors of life can be encountered or experienced differently. Stressors can be physiologic, tolerable, or traumatic stress. We respond to stress through our hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous system. These system works together to respond to both acute and chronic stressors. The responses from the HPA axis can trigger several responses from various organ systems. There is a negative feedback mechanism system in our body that helps to eliminate the stressor and return to baseline. However, in traumatic toxic stressors, this can lead to a chronic or sustained stress response. This chronic activation can lead to disruption of the structure and function of neuroendocrine and immune systems. Traumatic toxic stressor has been linked to prolonged wound healing, decreased antibody production after vaccination, and make you more susceptible to viral infections.

How can we prevent toxic stress:

- Provide a nurturing, safe, and stable environment.

- Help children learn to cope with adversity.

- Reduce a child’s ACE exposure

- Enable support system

Resilience is the ability to thrive, adapt and cope despite tough and stressful times, and is an ideal counterbalance to ACEs.

According to CDC- Kaiser study there are seven core ideas to help develop and foster resilience in children:

1. Competence – Building their understanding of their skills.

2. Confidence – Helping kids grow a true belief in their abilities.

3. Connection – Connecting children with other people, schools, and communities to further build their support system.

4. Character – Helping them comprehend a clear sense of right and wrong, and teaching them moral values.

5. Contribution – Offering children a chance to contribute to the well-being of others. They learn that giving service feels good and then feel more confident to ask others for help as well.

6. Coping – Discovering a variety of healthy coping strategies to prevent children from dangerous “quick fixes” to stress.

7. Control – Teaching children to make decisions on their own so they can experience a sense of control.

Adverse childhood experiences, if not catered to early on in life, can lead to behavioral issues in adolescence and adulthood. This can also lead to the development of mental conditions that can disable this individual from performing and participating in society. These mental conditions can range from anxiety, depression, PTSD, etc.

We need to work together to build better outcomes not only for our children but for our society. Additionally, we need to build understanding and empathy towards these ACEs and their outcomes. We can do this by identifying traumatic toxic stress and learning how to manage these situations. If you encounter a child that has behavioral issues, oftentimes it stems from ACEs and we need to be patient and careful when dealing with these individuals.


Kind regards, Psychiatric Associates & Team


Our mental resilience is an evolving system — constantly adapting to our circumstances and how we make use of our abilities. We thank you for your interest in our articles. And thank you for providing positive feedback about Dr. Sultana's services! We are pleased to see you are taking an interest in mental health and helping all of us.

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All the very best,
Nafeeza Hussain