ACEs & Addiction
Adverse Childhood Experiences/Childhood trauma are what lead to addiction. Whether it be attachment trauma, emotional neglect, physical abuse, violence in the home or something else.
It seems like only hardcore drug addiction is discussed in our culture, but what we need to realize is, an addiction, in and of itself, is a normal response to the unhealthiness and dysfunction a person was raised with. In other words, addiction isn’t the problem in and of itself; it expresses something about people’s lives and the greater society.

VIDEOS mentioned:
Recovery Series
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Adverse Childhood Experiences Explained
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Adult Adaptations from Childhood Trauma
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Understanding Self-Regulation
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Recommended Resources:
To sign up for THIS WEEK'S GIVEAWAY:
Message the word "ADDICTION" to
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I Don't Want A Therapist! 90 Day Companion Guide
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Attachment Style Quiz:
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Whole Again by Jackson MacKenzie
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Free Ace Test:
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Free "Childhood Emotional Neglect" Quiz:
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ACE Pyramid of Lifelong Effects:
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Maladaptive Behavior Checklist:
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FIND A TRAUMA INFORMED THERAPIST:
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IG & Twitter accounts are in the works.

References:
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ACEs or Adverse Childhood Experiences are the negative things that happened to or around us during our developmental years. Things like Emotional neglect, physical or sexual abuse, violence in the home, mental illness of a caregiver, etc. There are ten listed on the official ACE test, which was created by the Kaiser Institute in the 90’s, but it only includes the ten most common adverse experiences. There are many more. And sadly, most ACEs happen to a child before the age of three, according to studies done since the ACE test was created. ACEs repeatedly trigger a child's fight-or-flight stress response. This occurs because emotions associated with coping with ACEs, like anger, fear, frustration, shame, humiliation, anxiety, for example, keep triggering the fight-or-flight stress response.
As the child grows up, they often begin to develop social, emotional and cognitive impairments; some are mild, below the radar, and others are severe.
The child develops coping mechanisms, or adaptations, to survive his or her environment. And unfortunately, these adaptations are most often brought into adulthood and remain until a person goes through trauma recovery.
Addiction is not a disease or genetic tendency that strikes us; it’s a coping mechanism that tends to run in families or societies (again, not genetically, but environmentally).
Addiction is merely pain relief. Stigmatized pain relief, but pain relief all the same. A shopaholic and workaholic are trying to excite and release the same brain chemicals as a substance user, as a way of avoiding pain, underlying feelings that seem too difficult to tolerate in that moment.


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