Miseries like childhood poverty and childhood abuse are incorporated in someone’s Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) score. As we saw in the last chapter, it queries whether someone experienced or witnessed physical, emotional, or sexual childhood abuse, physical or emotional neglect, or household dysfunction, including divorce, spousal abuse, or a family member mentally ill, incarcerated, or struggling with substance abuse. With each increase in someone’s ACE score, there’s an increased likelihood of a hyperreactive amygdala that has expanded in size and a sluggish PFC that never fully
...more
