The Stories We Tell: Review of How Childhood Trauma Affects Health across a Lifetime by Nadine Burke Harris
In this TED Talk, Harris explains the relationship between the traumas people experience when they are young, to the adverse health conditions experienced later in life. She explains her research in this field as, "If you're a doctor, and you see 100 kids that all drink from the same well and 98 of them develop diarrhea, you can go ahead and write that prescription, for dose after dose after dose of antibiotics, or you can walk over and say, what the hell is in this well (Harris 2014)?" Harris explains that the "Adverse Childhood Experiences Study" is what grounded most of her research, which examined the adverse childhood experiences or ACEs of more than 17 thousand adults. For things such as physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, physical or emotional neglect, parental mental illness, substance dependence, incarceration, divorce, or domestic violence the study would add a point to one's ACE score (Harris 2014). The ACE scores were then correlated against health outcomes, they found two major findings, the first being that ACEs are incredibly common and the majority of adults have experienced at least one while growing up. The second major finding was that there was a dose-response relationship between ACEs and health outcomes, with the higher the ACE score, the worse your health outcomes (Harris 2014).
The debate on this topic comes down to whether there is a science to this finding or if it is just a result of bad behaviour. Such as a child who grows up with adverse childhood experiences will be more likely to make poor choices such as substance abuse, which can in turn lead to negative health conditions. Harris believes that the science is important here because of how these adverse experiences affect areas in the brain such as the nucleus accumbens, prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and finds that even if someone experiences ACEs and does not engage in high-risk behaviour, they are still more likely to develop certain adverse health conditions. She explains that this is related to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which is part of the human body's stress response system (Harris 2014). Harris explains how it works like this: " Imagine you're walking in the forest and you see a bear, immediately, your hypothalamus sends a signal to your pituitary, which sends a signal to your adrenal gland that says, "Release stress hormones! Adrenaline! Cortisol!" And so your heart starts to pound, your pupils dilate, your airways open up, and you are ready to either fight that bear or run from the bear. And that is wonderful.....if you're in a forest and there's a bear (Harris 2014)." Harris then connects this situation to the problem with ACEs which is, "what happens when the bear comes home every night (Harris 2014)?" She believes that a system that is made to be adaptive and life-saving, can turn into one that is maladaptive or health-damaging, with repeated exposure. This is where the problem lies, with this repeated exposure to stress at a young age, and Harris states that it is directly related to the health problems experienced later in life (Harris 2014).
This TED Talk is related to Life as Narrative by Jerome Bruner, who explains how stories need to be deconstructed to find actual productive findings from them. The what is not as important as the why, and understanding the underlying meanings behind the stories people tell is crucial in learning about humans, society, and the world. Bruner wants a pursuit this knowledge because as he says “we cannot tell the dancer from the dance (Bruner 2004)" and more in-depth studies like the ones explained by Harris can be an important scale on measuring human experience. The stories we tell and the lives we live are more connected than people think, and crucial examination of human life can be made by the examination of stories.
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