Maria is a 27-year old single woman who studies psychology and works as an assistant of a therapist in a mental health facility. In her childhood, she was sexually abused by an unknown person in a park. She did not tell about the rape to her parents because they were both alcoholics. Maria’s father died when she was 14, and her mother had to raise her alone. Maria’s adverse childhood event (ACE) score is expected to be 3, which is associated with an increased risk of various psychological and physical conditions.
First, Maria has an 11% chance of becoming an alcoholic, which may be even higher considering the fact that her parents had a history of alcohol misuse (“Got your ACE score?” 2018). Second, She has a 42% chance of having chronic depression (“Got your ACE score?” 2018). Finally, Felitti et al. suggest that Maria has a high chance of having a nicotine dependency problem. While the consequences of Maria’s ACEs may be disastrous, there are ways to prevent them from coming to reality.
The conditions described above can be averted with the help of resilience. Resilience generally describes the ability of individuals to return to a similar shape, form, and condition after misfortune, harm, or injury. Resilience can be trained in children and adults to avoid the consequences of ACEs (National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2019). People may also benefit from learning coping mechanisms, including asking for help, developing trusting relationships, forming a positive attitude, listening to feelings (Got your ACE score?” 2018).
Moreover, people with a high ACE score may be helped by psychotherapy based on cognitive-behavioral therapy (National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2019). Knowing one’s ACE score is crucial for the early detection of problems, which is central for addressing the associated problem effectively.
References
Felitti, V., Anda, R., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D., Spitz, A., & Edwards, V. … Marks, J.S. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14(4), 245-258. Web.
Got your ACE score? (2018). Web.
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (2019). Preventing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs): Leveraging the best available evidence. Web.