Confronting the Elephant

Confronting the Elephant: Attending to your past traumas”The single most important thing that we need today is the courage to look this problem in the face and say, this is real and this is all of us.”  -Nadine Burke Harris

Suck it up.

Stop making excuses.

People mean well, but if you have had trauma in your life, these words can be confusing – or harmful to your recovery. And everyone: no matter their socioeconomics, race, sexual orientation or gender, has either experienced a trauma – or knows someone who has.

If you have never heard of the ACE study, you are not alone. It does not get much attention, but is important – so much so that pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris designs her healthcare practice, the Center for Youth Wellness, on its principles. ACE stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences and the research conducted by Dr. Vince Felitti at Kaiser and Dr. Bob Anda at the CDC investigates how childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime.

You see, it is easy to tell your doctor you have a sore throat, or a broken arm. You have a problem, they have a solution. It is harder to tell your doctor that your mom drinks too much, and is verbally or physically abusive when she does, or that your dad hits your mom. There are only 1o questions on the test, and almost everyone scores at least a 1, but the closer you score to 10, the more likely you are to suffer health consequences … even if you do not turn to drinking, drugging, or risky behaviors as a result of the trauma.

Sometimes, we can suffer trauma without psychological or physical backlash. We can understand it and keep a healthy self-concept and move on without help. But sometimes, when we try to “suck it up” –  to ignore or push away a traumatic experience, the impact on our mental health and susceptibility to stress-related medical problems actually increases. The elephant gets bigger.

The silver lining is that if you take the time to acknowledge your past, you can decrease the effects of it. Answering the questions, and seeking help from a Licensed Professional Counselor or mental health professional can help you to gain an understanding of your past, how it can trigger your stress hormones, understand your needs, and how to use your individual strengths to reduce the trauma’s effect on your decision making and overall health.

Confronting this elephant can confront the source- and allow you to heal. Like healing a broken bone, healing the impact of trauma does not happen overnight. It takes time, energy, commitment and strength. However, for many people, the positive changes in relationships, self-esteem, and overall well-being are worth the time and effort.

If you are one of the rare people who score a 0 on the test, you can still be involved. You can start a dialogue, and voice the importance of counseling and mental health care so that more people know where to find care- and feel comfortable asking for it.

-Gillian

Below is the TED talk by Nadine Burke Harris on the subject, and a link to the ACE study.

TED video of Nadine Burke Harris:

Link to ACE Study:

http://www.acestudy.org/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/ACE_Calculator-English.127143712.pdf