Not so long ago a doctor in America began to notice that certain communities she worked in had far higher rates of health problems than others. She set about trying to work out why and discovered that poor health in later life can be directly linked to negative experiences in childhood. She discovered that the more adverse childhood experiences (ACE's) an individual has, the more likely they are to have poor mental, physical and emotional health.
There are three types of ACE's: Abuse - physical, mental and emotional
Neglect - physical and emotional
Household disfunction - mental illness, family member in prison, divorce, domestic abuse, substance abuse
It is likely that the pandemic can also be added to this list.
The team also found that some people who experienced ACES's didn't suffer the same consequences in later life. Those people had a long lasting trusting relationship with one adult.
