- Experiencing violence, abuse, or neglect
- Witnessing violence in the home or community
- Having a family member attempt or die by suicide
- Growing up in a household with a family member experiencing mental health problems or incarceration

Defining ACE Traumatic Events

- Conducted at Kaiser Permanente in Southern California from 1995 to 1997
- Over 17,000 people receiving health exams completed an ACE survey

CDC-Kaiser Permanente Study

- Mental health
- Physical health 
- Substance abuse
- Job and education potential


Risk Factors from ACEs

- Strengthening economic supports for families
- Promoting social norms that protect against violence/adversity
- Ensuring a strong start for children (education, Head Start programs)
- Teaching skills
- Connecting youth to caring adults
- Intervening to lessen immediate/long-term harms
- Raising awareness of ACEs: cause, effects, and how to prevent

Preventing ACEs

ACEs are potentially traumatic events occurring in childhood (ages 0-17)



Washington State University at Tri-Cities

San Jose State University

Mindfulness has been shown to be effective in reducing depression and anxiety symptoms in adults who had  (ACE) adverse childhood experiences that led to trauma.

Mindfulness in Adult Survivors of Childhood Trauma 

- Child abuse and neglect refers to any behavior by parents, caregivers, other adults, or older adolescents that is outside the norms of conduct and entails a substantial risk of causing physical or emotional harm to a child or young person. Such behaviors may be intentional or unintentional and can include acts of omission (i.e., neglect) and commission (i.e., abuse).
- 5 Main Subtypes of Abuse:
   - Physical abuse
   - Emotional maltreatment
   - Neglect
   - Sexual abuse
   - Witnessing family violence

Child Abuse and Neglect

The Diathesis-Stress Model is an integrative framework that combines biological and psychosocial factors to predict the likelihood of an individual developing a psychological disorder. It proposes that individuals with a pre-existing vulnerability or predisposition for a disorder, known as a diathesis, are more susceptible to developing the disorder when they encounter adverse environmental or psychological events, which constitute stress.

Diathesis-Stress Model

CDC-Kaiser ACE study Overview
https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/index.html

CDC-Kaiser ACE Study

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

Denying emotional responsiveness involves parental behaviors of engaging with children primarily out of situational demands (e.g., necessity or urgency) rather than a genuine desire to connect and concern for their children's emotional well-being. It can manifest in various forms, such as rejecting affectionate gestures like hugs and disregarding children's attempts to interact.

Denying Emotional Responsiveness in the Context of Psychological/emotional Maltreatment

Within the context of the Diathesis-Stress Model, 'stress' refers to adverse environmental or psychological events that can trigger the onset of a psychological disorder in individuals with a pre-existing diathesis. Examples of such stressors include childhood maltreatment, significant negative life events, and trauma.

Stress in the Diathesis-Stress Model

A diathesis is an underlying predisposition or vulnerability that increases an individual's risk of developing a particular disorder. This predisposition is not exclusively biological; it can also be psychological in nature, such as a cognitive tendency toward pessimistic or self-defeating thought patterns.

Diathesis

A fundamental principle of the diathesis-stress model is that the development of a psychological disorder requires the presence of both a pre-existing vulnerability (diathesis) and an environmental or psychological trigger (stress). Neither factor alone is considered sufficient to cause the disorder.

Core Assumption of the Diathesis-Stress Model

According to the diathesis-stress model, there is an inverse relationship between an individual's predisposition (diathesis) and the amount of stress required to trigger a disorder. This means that a person with a high level of vulnerability needs less stress to develop a disorder, whereas a person with a low level of vulnerability would need to experience a significant amount of stress for the same disorder to emerge.

Inverse Relationship between Diathesis and Stress

The development of major depressive disorder can be understood through a diathesis-stress framework. This model suggests that individuals do not develop depression from stress alone; rather, the disorder emerges from an interaction between a pre-existing vulnerability (diathesis) and exposure to adverse life events (stress). This explains why many people who experience significant stressors or childhood adversity do not ultimately develop depression.

Diathesis-Stress Model of Major Depressive Disorder

Cognitive theories propose that depression is initiated by negative thoughts, interpretations, self-assessments, and expectations. These frameworks are considered diathesis-stress models, suggesting that depression arises from an interaction between a 'cognitive vulnerability'—a predisposition to negative and maladaptive thinking—and the occurrence of stressful life events.

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