Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains that the repeated stress of abuse and neglect has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain. This unfolds across a lifetime, to the point where those who’ve experienced high levels of trauma are at triple the risk for heart disease and lung cancer. Watch
How does childhood trauma affect health across a lifetime?
How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime | Nadine Burke Harris. Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains that the repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain. This unfolds across a lifetime,...
How does mental health and substance abuse affect child development?
Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains that the repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain.
Can childhood trauma lead to adult-onset disease?
Nadine Burke Harris’ healthcare practice focuses on a little-understood, yet very common factor in childhood that can profoundly impact adult-onset disease: trauma. Nadine Burke Harris’ healthcare practice focuses on a little-understood, yet very common factor in childhood that can profoundly impact adult-onset disease: trauma.
What is the Adverse Childhood Experiences study?
The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study is something that everybody needs to know about. It was done by Dr. Vince Felitti at Kaiser and Dr. Bob Anda at the CDC, and together, they asked 17,500 adults about their history of exposure to what they called "adverse childhood experiences," or ACEs.
How does adversity affect the brain?
It affects areas like the nucleus accumbens, the pleasure and reward center of the brain that is implicated in substance dependence. It inhibits the prefrontal cortex, which is necessary for impulse control and executive function, a critical area for learning. And on MRI scans, we see measurable differences in the amygdala, the brain's fear response center. So there are real neurologic reasons why folks exposed to high doses of adversity are more likely to engage in high-risk behavior, and that's important to know.
Why are children sensitive to stress?
Children are especially sensitive to this repeated stress activation, because their brains and bodies are just developing. High doses of adversity not only affect brain structure and function, they affect the developing immune system, developing hormonal systems, and even the way our DNA is read and transcribed.
What percentage of the population has at least one ACE?
What they found was striking. Two things: Number one, ACEs are incredibly common. Sixty-seven percent of the population had at least one ACE, and 12.6 percent, one in eight, had four or more ACEs.
How many times does ACE score increase risk of lung cancer?
For depression, it was four and a half times. For suicidality, it was 12 times. A person with an ACE score of seven or more had triple the lifetime risk of lung cancer and three and a half times the risk of ischemic heart disease, the number one killer in the United States of America. Well, of course this makes sense.
How many times can you get ACE score?
For a person with an ACE score of four or more, their relative risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was two and a half times that of someone with an ACE score of zero. For hepatitis, it was also two and a half times. For depression, it was four and a half times. For suicidality, it was 12 times.
What hormones do the hypothalamus release?
Immediately, your hypothalamus sends a signal to your pituitary, which sends a signal to your adrenal gland that says, "Release stress hormones! Adrenaline! Cortisol!". And so your heart starts to pound, Your pupils dilate, your airways open up, and you are ready to either fight that bear or run from the bear.
What did Kaiser Permanente discover about the CDC?
In the mid-'90s, the CDC and Kaiser Permanente discovered an exposure that dramatically increased the risk for seven out of 10 of the leading causes of death in the United States. In high doses, it affects brain development, the immune system, hormonal systems, and even the way our DNA is read and transcribed. ...
What is Nadine Burke Harris's eureka moment?
She had a eureka moment when she discovered research about the collection of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that have been tied to adult alcoholism, drug abuse, physical abuse, and suicidality.
What are the conclusions of the ACE study?
Burke Harris: One of the most striking conclusions of the ACE studies was how drastically certain early experiences increase the risks of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and lung disease. That was key to my understanding of how strongly emotional stress is linked to the body, particularly during the critical developmental period in children. But there’s another piece that largely goes unrecognized: the biological changes that result in the activation of stress responses lead not only to the increased risk of medical problems, but to a dramatic increase in the risk of engaging in high-risk behavior.
Is ADHD a mental health disorder?
But the DSM stipulates that ADHD is not caused by any other mental health disorder. Meanwhile, my research on how adversity affects children’s developing brains led me to realize that a diagnosis of ADHD didn’t take the full picture into account. Something else was going on.
Who is Burke Harris?
Now an in-demand speaker, Burke Harris is the founder and CEO of the Center for Youth Wellness. Her TED talk, about how childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime, has been viewed more than 5 million times, and has laid the groundwork for her first book, The Deepest Well. In January, she became California’s first surgeon general.
Does childhood trauma affect emotional development?
Ryan Howes. No therapist is surprised that childhood trauma affects emotional and behavioral development, but it’s taken a passionate young doctor to shed light on the disturbing toll it also takes on physical health. Years ago, after Nadine Burke Harris opened a pediatric clinic for the underserved population of San Francisco, ...
Who is Ryan Howes?
Ryan Howes, PhD, ABPP, is a psychologist, writer, musician, and clinical professor at Fuller Graduate School of Psychology in Pasadena, California.
