Vote for Health, Mental and Physical

Childhood experiences become neurochemical as well as can affect gene expression. Stress, via, e.g., cortisol production, affects brain and other body chemicals, and triggers readiness for fight, flight or freeze reactions through the vagus nerve --Cranial Nerve X -- which travels to the heart, blood vessels, lungs, and other vital organs via its sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. [The vagus nerve, really a pair of them, is the longest nerve of the autonomic --  ‘automatic’ -- nervous system.] Children who experience protracted stress (domestic violence, physical and sexual abuse, death or separation form a needed caregiver, chronic misattunement, etc) trigger these fight-flight-freeze reactions and ‘prime’ or ‘kindle’ the vagus to react more and more quickly as the child ages. Chronic stress affects the development of the hormone receptors in the brain, causing a problem with the stress regulation system. Stress also impairs the immune system leading to problems like infections and cancers, and stress elevates the inflammation response causing greater risk for all kinds of physical diseases (cardiovascular via C-reactive protein, autoimmune, chronic pain, etc)  

Kids who grow up with violence, neglect, unpredictability and uncertainty recreate in the classroom this way of being with others and bully or get bullied. They are often [mis]diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, bipolar disorder when all they are doing is trying to survive the overwhelming chaos of adverse childhood experiences (ACE). They are affectively dysregulated -- for their parents could not participate in mutual regulation-- with insecure attachments and later will be diagnosed with personality disorders such as avoidant or borderline.

Adult children of childhood trauma and ACE are more likely to suffer with anxiety disorders like Panic disorder, PTSD, and Generalized anxiety, as well as with mood disorders such as depression. But they are also more likely to suffer with obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Faulty stress regulation may cause overreaction when confronted with stressful situations, or under-reaction, not recognizing risky situations.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) have been studied retrospectively from data collected by Kaiser Permanente in California and prospectively in Dunedin, New Zealand with an n (sample size) of a thousand. What was found is that children with a history of 4 or more ACE grew up to have greater risks for mental and physical disorders, including, but not limited to, depression, anxiety, suicide, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and substance abuse.

If we spend all kinds of money to prevent and treat cancer and heart disease, etc, why don’t we get serious about prevention and start by supporting mothers (and fathers) in such a way as to solve homelessness, food insecurity, domestic and gang violence, childhood sexual abuse, insecure attachment, and the many other adverse childhood experiences? Early trauma produces lasting changes in the brain and the body. Social problems as it turns out are neuro-chemical. So, when we vote in the USA on Nov 6th, 2018, we might think to vote for health, mental and physical health and for programs that diminish ACE.