What Are ACEs? Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences and Their Impact on Adults

Trauma Therapy
Written By Micah Saviet

Many adults struggle with anxiety, emotional overwhelm, relationship difficulties, chronic stress, low self-worth, or nervous system dysregulation without fully understanding where these patterns began. For some people, the root may lie in unresolved childhood trauma or adverse childhood experiences, often referred to as ACEs.

Understanding ACEs can help people make sense of longstanding emotional, physical, and relational challenges — and recognize that meaningful healing is possible.

What Are ACEs?

The term ACEs stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences. ACEs are potentially traumatic experiences that occur during childhood and undermine a child’s sense of safety, stability, connection, or emotional security.

Research has shown that childhood trauma and chronic stress can have lasting effects on the brain, nervous system, emotional regulation, physical health, relationships, and overall well-being into adulthood.

Examples of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

A 2019 report on ACEs (Merrick et al., 2019) identified several common examples of adverse childhood experiences, including:

  • Experiencing emotional, physical, or sexual abuse

  • Experiencing neglect

  • Witnessing violence at home or in the community

  • Having a family member attempt or die by suicide

  • Growing up with a parent who struggled with mental health concerns or substance use

  • Parental separation or divorce

  • Having a parent incarcerated

  • Experiencing homelessness

  • Food insecurity or housing instability

Not all trauma comes from a single major event. Chronic stress, unpredictability, emotional invalidation, or growing up in environments where a child did not feel emotionally safe can also deeply affect nervous system development.

How Common Are ACEs?

ACEs are far more common than many people realize.

Research by Swedo and colleagues (2023) found that approximately 75% of teenagers reported experiencing at least one ACE, while nearly 20% reported experiencing four or more ACEs.

Some groups are disproportionately impacted, including:

  • Women and girls

  • LGBTQ+ individuals

  • Multiracial youth

  • American Indian and Alaska Native communities

  • Individuals affected by systemic social and economic stressors

Research also shows that poverty, community violence, discrimination, and lack of access to support can increase exposure to childhood adversity (Font & Maguire-Jack, 2019).

Why Do ACEs Matter in Adulthood?

Many adults are unaware that unresolved childhood trauma may still be affecting them years later.

Trauma does not simply stay in the past. Adverse childhood experiences can shape:

  • Emotional regulation

  • Stress responses

  • Self-esteem

  • Relationship patterns

  • Nervous system functioning

  • Physical health

  • Sense of safety and trust

  • Ability to rest, focus, or feel calm

Adults with a history of ACEs may experience:

  • Anxiety

  • Depression

  • Chronic shame or self-criticism

  • Emotional dysregulation

  • Burnout

  • Hypervigilance

  • Relationship difficulties

  • Chronic stress

  • Dissociation or numbness

  • Feeling “stuck” in unhealthy patterns

For many neurodivergent adults, including adults with ADHD, unresolved trauma can further intensify overwhelm, emotional sensitivity, rejection sensitivity, nervous system dysregulation, and chronic feelings of inadequacy or exhaustion.

The Long-Term Health Effects of ACEs

According to the CDC, ACEs are associated with increased risk for a wide range of mental and physical health conditions across the lifespan.

Studies have linked ACEs to:

  • Anxiety disorders

  • Depression

  • PTSD and complex trauma

  • Substance use disorders

  • Chronic pain

  • Heart disease

  • Diabetes

  • Cancer

  • Autoimmune conditions

  • Sleep problems

  • Increased suicide risk

ACEs can also affect education, employment opportunities, financial stability, and relationship functioning later in life.

Can Trauma Therapy Help Adults With ACEs?

Yes. Healing from childhood trauma is possible.

Trauma therapy can help adults better understand the connection between past experiences and present-day symptoms while creating new patterns of safety, regulation, and self-trust.

At Adult Trauma and ADHD Solutions, I offer integrative, neurodiversity-affirming trauma therapy for adults navigating the long-term effects of trauma, chronic stress, ADHD, nervous system dysregulation, and adverse childhood experiences.

My approach goes beyond symptom management and focuses on addressing the root causes of distress using holistic, evidence-based therapies that work with the brain, body, and nervous system.

These approaches may include:

  • Brainspotting

  • Somatic therapy

  • Nervous system regulation approaches

  • Parts work

  • Energy psychology

  • EFT tapping

  • Mindfulness-based approaches

You do not need to fully remember or verbally relive traumatic experiences to benefit from therapy. Many body-based and neurophysiological approaches can support trauma processing without repeatedly rehashing painful experiences.

Trauma Therapy for Adults With ADHD and Nervous System Dysregulation

Many adults with ADHD also carry histories of chronic stress, invalidation, overwhelm, or trauma. When trauma and ADHD overlap, it can intensify emotional dysregulation, executive functioning difficulties, perfectionism, shame, burnout, and relationship stress.

Integrative trauma therapy can help neurodivergent adults:

  • Develop greater self-compassion

  • Reduce nervous system overwhelm

  • Improve emotional regulation

  • Heal trauma-related shame

  • Build healthier relationship patterns

  • Increase self-trust and clarity

  • Feel more connected to their authentic selves

Looking for Trauma Therapy in Falls Church, VA?

I provide online trauma therapy for adults in Falls Church, VA, Silver Spring, MD, and DC who are navigating trauma, ADHD, chronic stress, nervous system dysregulation, and the lasting impact of adverse childhood experiences.

If you would like to learn more about working together, you can explore my services through Adult Trauma and ADHD Solutions or schedule a free 15-minute consultation to see whether this approach feels like a good fit for you.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2025). About Adverse Childhood Experiences. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/aces/about/index.html

Font, S., & Maguire-Jack, K. (2016). Pathways from childhood abuse and other adversities to adult health risks: The role of adult socioeconomic conditions. Child Abuse & Neglect, 51, 390–399.

Merrick, M. T., Ford, D. C., Ports, K. A., et al. (2019). Vital Signs: Estimated proportion of adult health problems attributable to adverse childhood experiences and implications for prevention. MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 68(44), 999–1005.

Swedo, E. A., Pampati, S., Anderson, K. N., et al. (2024). Adverse childhood experiences and health conditions and risk behaviors among high school students — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2023. MMWR Supplement, 73(4), 39–49.

Micah Saviet
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Chronic Illness, Trauma, and the Nervous System: Why Regulation Matters for Healing