If you’re reading this then you’ve probably taken the ACE Survey. If you even just scored a 1 on the ACE Survey then this article is definitely for you. The higher your ACE score the more likely you are to have health problems as an adult due to what you went through as a child. Additionally, if you feel like you’ve been doing everything right with your diet, exercise, sleep, managing stress levels etc. but you just can’t get well, then you probably haven’t addressed your ACE’s. This article will give you the tools you need and cover how to heal adverse childhood experiences.
In a previous article I discussed the connection between ACE’s and autoimmune disease, more specifically Hashimoto’s disease where I cover some of the best research on ACE’s. This article will focus on all the things you can do to overcome your ACE’s and start feeling the best you’ve ever felt. Let’s jump right in and cover all the different therapies you can do.
A large portion of the recommendations and quotes below come from the book, “Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal” by Donna Jackson Nakazawa. I highly recommend you read this book if you have an ACE score of 1 or more.
Somatic Experiencing
Somatic Experiencing was started by Dr. Peter Levine to help people overcome trauma. According to Dr. Levine, humans have difficulty recovering from trauma compared to animals because our traumas are stored in the brain and nervous system. Animals can easily shake off their trauma but humans get stuck in a trauma loop and dissociated for their bodies.
Somatic Experiencing helps you slowly reintegrate with your body without having to relive your trauma. Specific exercises are recommended by skilled therapists to get in touch with your body again which eventually lets the trauma go.
I have personally done Somatic Experiencing for my own trauma and it has been extremely useful in my healing journey. I’m more in touch now with my feelings and my body and things that used to bother me don’t get to me anymore. Somatic Experiencing is one of the most common therapies I recommend to my patients who are trying to get well.
You can find a practitioner on Dr. Levine’s website the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute at https://traumahealing.org/.
EMDR
EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing helps you overcome trauma by thinking about negative memories while rapidly moving your eyes back and forth similar to REM sleep. This is done staring at a device with lights that rapidly move back and forth while holding a device in each hand that vibrates.
Research has found that doing this will result in the dissipation of emotions and stress reactions that are associated with these memories. I have done EMDR before and I found it very useful and helpful for overcoming trauma. As with any therapy, the key is finding a skilled therapist in EMDR.
Just like meditation, EMDR has been shown to decrease the firing of the amygdala and increase the size of the hippocampus. EMDR is one of my top choices for healing childhood trauma.
Psychotherapy
Traditional psychotherapy is always a great place to start when you’re trying to heal. There is nothing better than a third-party objective view of your life and your feelings. Many people make the mistake of using a priest, friend or family member as the person they talk to. There is no substitute for a mental health professional trained in psychotherapy who can give you the best treatment.
Unfortunately, our society still views seeing a therapist as a weakness and it certainly isn’t given the funding or attention it deserves. I hope that in the future, everyone works with a mental health professional even when they are feeling well. Your mental health is the bedrock of everything about you and how you feel so it must be the number one priority for everyone.
Sometimes you need to have a few sessions with various therapists to find the right fit for you. Once you find the right fit, you’ll have a solid person to give you lots of support and guidance in your life. I have more respect for mental health professionals than any other branch of healthcare because I know the service they provide is more important and more beneficial than any other form of treatment.
Neurofeedback
Neurofeedback, or Electroencephalographic (EEG) Neurofeedback has been shown to improve brain function. Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD, is the director of the post-traumatic stress disorder research unit at the University of Western Ontario in Canada and she states, “Neurofeedback can help to bring some of the brain networks that are interrupted by trauma back online.”
The simplest way to think about neurofeedback is to view the brain as a symphony orchestra and when someone is traumatized, one or more sections of the orchestra are no longer playing or playing out of sync with the rest of the instruments. Neurofeedback brings the abnormal instruments back into harmony with the rest of the orchestra.
Neurofeedback is readily available but make sure the practitioner has experience in dealing with trauma and PTSD.
Mindfulness Meditation
Did you know that brain scans of individuals who experienced Adverse Childhood Experiences have smaller areas of the brain that process inflammation, loving relationships, and how we deal with stress? That means more inflammation, more difficult relationships, and greater difficulty handling stress.
This means that we really struggle in relationships which further drives inflammation, stress, and health problems, especially if your are a woman. The good news is that mindfulness meditation, or mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) can change our brains back to normal.
Mindfulness meditation has been shown to change the brain which reduces inflammation and improves how we respond to stress. In fact, those who meditate recover from stress much more quickly than those who don’t. This means that when you get a spike in cortisol when you’re under stress, you’re cortisol levels will come down much more quickly than those who don’t meditate.
Research has also shown meditation to be helpful for the following:
Anxiety
Depression
Pain
Mental focus
Cardiovascular health
Improving empathy and concern towards others
Severe speech and physical impairments
Improve well-being
Research has even shown that meditation increases the density of gray matter in the hippocampus which is important for memory, stress regulation, and emotion processing.
Meditation also helps reduce fearfulness while improving empathy, self-reflection, and self-awareness. I have written an article previously on meditation which has all of my recommended apps for meditation. You can use an app or go to a class to learn how to meditate.
If you really have difficulty with meditation, you may do better with Guided Imagery. Guided Imagery has been known as the “lazy person’s meditation” because a practitioner or audio track guides you through the process. This involves picturing something in particular and picturing everything that is happening in your imagination through a story or process. The practitioner will give you something to picture in your mind followed by instructions on what to see and what to think about. You simply sit or lie with your eyes closed deep in your imagination. I highly recommend it if meditation just doesn’t feel right for you.
Loving-kindness Meditation
Loving-kindness meditation or “metta” is a powerful way to heal past and present relationships that are troubling you. This meditation is done by giving compassion to yourself and then to others. Forgiveness can be extremely difficult for those who have hurt you but forgiving yourself may be even more difficult.
Personally, I’ve always been extremely hard on myself. Much harder than I would ever be on someone else. Some of us would never treat another person with the same harsh self-talk that we give to ourselves. This is where loving-kindness meditation can help.
Begin in a place and position like you would normally be in to meditate and focus on your breath for a few minutes. Bring forth an image of yourself and say the following out loud:
May I be filled with love and kindness.
May I be safe and protected.
May I love and be loved.
May I be happy and contented.
May I be healthy and strong.
May my life unfold with ease.
Make sure you really mean each phrase as you say it to yourself. Next, think about someone who is close to you and say these phrases:
May you be filled with love and kindness.
May you be safe and protected.
May you love and be loved.
May you be happy and contented.
May you be healthy and strong.
May your life unfold with ease.
Now think about someone you don’t know so well such as a co-worker, hairdresser, mailman etc. and speak the phrases above to them.
Next, think of someone who has caused you some pain in your relationship with them. Not someone who has traumatized you however as this would be too much. This could be a close friend, family member, or loved one and go through the phrases again as noted above.
Finally, speak the following phrases to all human beings and animals if you’re an animal lover like me:
May all beings be filled with love and kindness.
May all beings be safe and protected.
May all beings love and be loved.
May all beings be happy and contented.
May all beings be healthy and strong.
May all being's lives unfold with ease.
Take a few moments when you’re done with some deep breathing and appreciate the new sense of calm you have before opening your eyes.
Forgiveness
Forgiveness ties in with loving-kindness meditation but you can do something even more specific for individuals who have hurt you. Forgiveness is extremely difficult but you don’t have to completely let go of what happened to you.
