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I don’t generally comment about those who I feel have problems related to ACE’s. They are entitled to their privacy. But in this case, a mother in denial has placed what I believe are signs of childhood trauma onto the front page of news outlets world wide. 

One problem with living in Alaska is constant exposure to our former Governor turned Vice Presidential candidate. She has polarized people in Alaska, and seems to have a very low approval rate here. But her family has been involved in so many dysfunctional behaviors that I can’t help but believe that ACE’s play a role in the behaviors of her children. The latest act was an arrest for Domestic Violence by her son. I know it made headlines all over the world (my daughter lives in Cairns, AU where it was on the front page of the digital edition of the Cairns Post). And now it appears that his mother believes it was President Obama’s fault. [New York Daily News Story Link here

The article lists a host of behaviors that are present in high ACE individuals. He was abusing alcohol, and other sources reported a Blood Alcohol Level in excess of .18. He allegedly committed acts of domestic violence. He displayed a sustained level of anger that many high ACE individuals seem to do, as well as an elevated level of jealousy, according to the police report. And he spoke of suicide that night, according to his girlfriend. 

But as an Alaskan, I am aware of his many other behaviors that are present in greater levels in high ACE individuals. He dropped out of high school. There are reports of alcohol and drug use at an early age. He has been married and divorced after fathering a child before the marriage. He has had a long reported list of girlfriends, including the alleged assault victim. He has allegedly committed other crimes, and was said to have joined the military to avoid criminal penalties (although such enlistments are prohibited by the military). He challenged his father to a fight during a drunken brawl in 2014, who was apparently the most seriously injured among the combatants. And according to reasoned discussion, The young man apparently did not see combat in Iraq, where he served for one year, from September, 2008 to September, 2009.

I want to say that I am distressed at the amount of press time spent on The young man. What is needed are facts that point to a possible exposure to childhood trauma and the extent of that exposure. 

This Blogger posted a comment from a former resident raised in the same community, pointing out basically the same items I am. [LINK HERE] “…speaking from experience, domestic violence/parent abandonment/drugs/alcohol/prostitution/poor schooling/low income/out-of-wedlock birth/fetal alcohol syndrome/gun violence/mental illness/rape/prison time is everyday life in Alaska.” Data from our Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) says essentially the same thing. [LINK HERE

This young man should be assessed for childhood trauma and treated. If he has PTSD, he is among a minority of returning Iraqi veterans. According to the VA, 10 to 18% of combat vets from Iraq showed signs of PTSD. The list of stressors is fairly lengthy and includes “lower level of schooling,” “family problems,” and “prior trauma exposure.” Longer deployment time and combat exposure were additional stressor. The young man did not have the latter, but did have the prior. And another byproduct of deployment are higher levels of depression. As I write this, some veterans groups have come against accusing President Obama of dereliction of duty regarding PTSD. However, other veterans who served with him has said that Iraq was not the source of his problems.

So what do we do about this? The parents, the most likely source of any childhood trauma, are prominent and appear to be in denial. The mother is deflecting responsibility to PTSD, of which there is a small likelihood (never before reported). Because PTSD shares many behavioral expressions with childhood trauma, it can't be dismissed and if present, should be treated.  The Department of Defense began mandatory screening of Iraq veterans in 2008 both when the deployment ended and 6 months later. Services are available to veterans so screened for a period of 5 years after diagnosis. Track was likely screened but there were no reports of PTSD before his mothers accusation. It is now over 6 years since he left Iraq.

First of all, the young man has a host of problems to face that he doesn’t need wide exposure about. With a BA level of .189, he likely came out of a blackout, described as either common or fragmentary. What is confusing is that a person in a common blackout can be a social drinker, and have no recollection of what happened yet function with what appear to be normal behaviors. They carry on conversations, drive vehicles, dance and have sexual relations. He may have been shocked to hear what he is charged with, and have no memories connected to some of the actual events. He has many problems to deal with as a consequence of his behavior, behaviors that I believe were recognized a decade ago and could have been addressed with ACE screening. Because they were not, he faces the potential of a life with a DV assault on his record, and cannot seek certain types of employment as a consequence of a conviction if it occurs.

ACE’s and the behaviors adopted to cope with our childhood trauma affect every segment of society. Instead of trolling and bullying behaviors on the web, we should be educating others about the seriousness of not addressing childhood trauma, and working to prevent it. That’s my goal. I thought long and hard about even posting about this issue, and I did not post any names, although you will either recognize the case or can discover it through the links. But I can really do no more damage. This young man’s mother already publicized his issues worldwide. And she is clearly in denial. But as an adult, perhaps we can create an environment where he can seek and receive help. Let’s keep working towards that goal.

 

Last edited by Patrick Anderson
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Great post, Patrick!  Thank you for writing this!  You make some excellent points and I couldn't agree more.  I think your assessment of this young man, and his experiences, are right on the money. 

Very interesting, Patrick. Thanks so much for posting this. I'm glad your goal is addressing childhood trauma and preventing it....many have and will benefit.

And it's probably a good idea to remember that ACEs is a two-(three, four, five, etc.) generation issue. If people haven't dealt with their own ACEs, it's not likely that they'll recognize or deal with ACEs in their children. 

Thanks, Jane. I believe that prevention is the goal. But I have said many, many times in my talks and when writing that unless we help the parenting generation to heal (parents, grandparents and often aunts/uncles), we will have difficulty preventing trauma or adequately recognizing and intervening. I have proposed both a recognition protocol (Assessment) and a healing protocol that I believe will work. But both depend on an understanding of the potential problems that can be caused by childhood trauma. And the resistance is real, as you point out the need for recognizing a multi generational transmission of trauma. If trauma is all you know, you won't know it's damaging until someone points it out to you in a loving manner.

Patrick - thanks for shining the spotlight on the core issue. This all too common story becomes sensationalized because these folks are public figures and what could be meaningful conversation around multi-generational trauma transmission quickly becomes mere political and tabloid fodder.

This is an interesting analysis of the situation with which I'm generally in agreement, but you made a couple of points with which I would take issue.  First, whatever the source of this particular young man's issues, I would not take at face value the VA's estimate of the percentage of returning combat vets diagnosable with PTSD (the diagnosis itself is a problem, but that's a different topic).  There has been a lot of press about clearly traumatized vets being less than honorably discharged for having "pre-existing personality disorders" so the VA can avoid providing needed services to traumatized veterans.  Secondly, your post pre-supposes that those of us with childhood trauma cannot be diagnosed with PTSD, which is incorrect.  While I take issue with the usefulness of the diagnosis itself, it is clear that many survivors of childhood trauma meet the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. 

Patrick

thx for your post  this is so important and I never thought about Sarah P son as an ACES victim and signs are so clear  and if he were African American as you know he would hv been under the prison or dead  

 

Many thanks for the comments, all. My thinking is actually more complex than a single post can reveal, and I apologize if I left anyone with an impression that I preclude any line of thought. My goal in any analysis is to assess the impact of childhood trauma through inquiry and observation, and suggest a way to heal.

Darby, I actually believe that an ACE burden can make one more vulnerable  to PTSD, whether caused by war or not. And ACE burden's vary in both quantity and intensity as do individual responses. As we move through life, we reach to our own circumstances with varying types of responses. And as Briana points out, our societal reaction varies depending on the race and other circumstances of the victim. Systemically speaking, ACE's and trauma can accumulate over a lifetime, and individual reaction varies according to a host in variables, including combat. I use what scientific data is available, including research from scientists who are studying Vets, because I prefer data to intuition. I certainly believe that the data can always be improved. So while the young man I discussed may have PTSD (and most who reacted publicly don't think he does), my point was that we could see signs of a trauma burden early in his life. The same is true with his siblings given their behaviors, and with his parents, given their behaviors. 

Although I haven't found it written in an article, one ACE expert told me that many Viet Nam Vets studied adopted a host of protective habits when they were deployed, including extensive alcohol and drug use, smoking and promiscuity (among others). When exposed to the traumatic stimuli of war, many contracted PTSD. One noted difference among returning Vets saw those  with ACE's having more persistent cases while those with a lesser burden of ACE's resolved their PTSD much faster. PTSD is a symptom, one of many that derive from ACE's, which I call a root cause. In systemic thinking, when I see the root cause present, it causes me to look for symptoms. Those symptoms can be singular or multiple.

So I hope I make no presuppositions about contracting PTSD by ACE victims. If we know that an individual has a high ACE burden, we can assess a soldier's (and others who are at risk and are not soldiers) potential for contracting PTSD and not only teach protective factors prior to deployment, but have a greater ability to monitor that soldier and work with them during deployment. There is no reason we should just assess when they return. A colleague of mine has put together training for deploying soldiers that apparently has reduced the incidence of PTSD among those trained. Prevention is better than treatment and intervention at the earlier identified signs is a great goal.

Patrick, I think we may have both philosophical differences and semantic differences.  I don't think of PTSD as something that can be "contracted;" I think of it as a rather unfortunate DSM diagnosis that is not particularly helpful.  Nor do I think of myself or other survivors of childhood trauma as "ACE victims" There is much evidence that the vast majority of those of us who have been given psychiatric diagnoses of any kind are trauma survivors, not just people labeled with PTSD.  So I don't find the label itself very useful.

I was recently part of a research team that conducted a 5-year, multi-state study of jail diversion programs expressly for veterans with trauma histories.  One of the findings (which is in line with the findings of other studies) is that the vast majority about 90%) of veterans who participated in the study had experienced multiple traumatic events before age 18, in addition to traumatic experiences during their military service (which included sexual assault as well as experiences in combat).

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