TED: "How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime"

Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, pediatrician and founder of the Center for Youth Wellness in San Francisco's Bayview district, discusses the effects of childhood trauma on brain development and lifetime health outcomes. Dr. Burke Harris advocates screening for childhood trauma using the adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) scoring tool and providing prevention, early intervention, and treatment services.



According to SAMHSA, research shows a strong graded (i.e., dose-response) relationship between ACEs and a variety of substance use-related behaviors, including:

• Early initiation of alcohol use (Dube et al, 2006)
• Problem drinking behavior into adulthood (Dube et al, 2002)
• Prescription drug use (Anda et al, 2008)
• Lifetime illicit drug use, ever having a drug problem, and self-reported addiction (Dube et al, 2003) 

Link to Dr. Nadine Burke Harris' TED talk.