Trauma...what’s behind behavior and what we can do about it
When we think about trauma, we instantly think of the “Big T” traumas that we are familiar with from Law & Order and our other favorite television shows. While these “Big T”s can have huge impacts, what we also know to be true is that the “Little T” traumas that are much more common can have equal impacts on brain functioning. Let’s break it down… Kaiser Permanente conducted a study between 1995 and 1997 of individuals completing a physical examination, attempting to correlate risk factors for future physical health issues. What they found was Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) were highly correlated with future physical health and mental health issues. These ACEs could be “Big T”s (physical abuse, sexual abuse) or could be “Little T”s (not feeling special within one’s household, family member going to prison, parental divorce or separation, mental health issue of a family member). What we know to be true is that 20% of the general population has experienced three or m