What happened to you?

Not: “What’s wrong with that person?” Rather: “What happened to you?”

Oprah said she hopes her piece on childhood trauma on 60 Minutes will be revolutionary. That’s a big hope and I share it.

The question is not “What’s wrong with that person?” The right question is “What happened to you?”

Childhood trauma affects us throughout our whole lives. It is easy to understand how this would impact someone with Big T trauma — physical or sexual abuse, intimate partner violence in the home or a raging alcoholic parent. It also includes a parent who is traumatized and disconnected emotionally or physically (divorce, jail, death), a parent who is mentally ill, bullying and shaming.

20 years ago!! 20 years ago the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) and a huge insurance company Kaiser did research which has been replicated hundreds of times since. Check here for more about Adverse Childhood Experiences Score (ACES). People who work with trauma are aware of ACES but it is not well known. This program by Oprah has brought this to the attention of the public in a big way.

The main findings of ACES is that childhood trauma is far more prevalent than previously thought, that the higher your score, the higher the impact on adult life and that neglect leading to a feeling of…