Treating childhood trauma
In the video above, Oprah is getting the word out about about the impact of chronic trauma experienced during a person’s childhood. She is promoting
a piece that she did for 60 minutes that you can watch if you have access to CBS online. In the piece, she learns from trauma expert, Dr. Bruce Perry, that kids who have considerable chronic trauma in their young lives are at significantly higher risk of “almost any kind of physical health, mental health, social health problem that you can think of.” She also learns, that the more people learn about being able to take a “trauma-informed” perspective of people you encounter in the world, the more you can promote healing in others or, at the very least, not add to their struggles.
This information is based on a massive study done by the CDC (Center for Disease Control), that took a look at the potential long-term impact of childhood trauma. You can take a deeper dive into this information on the CDC website.
If you are interested in looking into what your ACES score is, you can see the questionnaire here. ** Important Note: If you have a history of trauma in your life you may feel uncomfortable or get upset when taking this questionnaire. I recommend that you consult with a mental health professional to guide you through this process.
If you found this interesting or helpful, you may also want to check out another post on my site, TED Talk: How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime by Nadine Burke Harris, MD.