CEC Associates has
written extensively about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) in terms of
employee dysfunction in the workplace. The original ACE study was done by
Robert Anda, M.D., at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Vincent J.
Felitti, M.D., at Kaiser Permanente. The findings of this developmental
research showed that in many adults, the cause of otherwise unexplained
illnesses and impaired adult worker performance is ACE.
More recently, the
research has been extended by other medical professionals to include other
pervasive physiological difficulties in adults. The latest findings indicate
that between 20% and 40% of headache patients have endured some kind
of maltreatment during their early lives.
One of the lead
researchers of this phenomenon is Dr. Elliott Schulman, a neurologist at the
Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood.
Schulman’s study of ACE
confirmed a strong association between childhood stress and adult headaches.
The report, which studied more than 17,000 adults, examined the relationship
between frequent headaches and eight early stressors:
1. emotional
abuse
2. physical
abuse
3. sexual
abuse
4. domestic
violence
5. parental
separation or divorce
6. living
with an adult who was mentally ill
7. living
with a substance abuser
8. engaged
in criminal activity
ACE research is only
now beginning to look more into subtle manifestations of ACE, and we look
forward to the findings of additional studies of these cause-and-effect
factors. How strong do you think this causal relationship is between ACE
scores and headaches? What would be an appropriate way, if any, to measure the
effects of ACE in the workplace? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
For more information, see
the summary
article from Clinical Psychiatry News or the ACE study website. For
more on the impact of ACE on workplace dysfunction, see this Continuing Education article
written by CEC Associates.
