The Adverse Childhood Experiences Scale (ACE) is a quantifiable measure of your exposure to dysfunction in childhood.
Areas assessed include:
- Having a parental figure struggling with addiction, mental illness, and/or incarceration
- Physical, emotional, sexual abuse, exposure to domestic violence, and/or neglect of basic needs
Researchers are increasingly discovering the impact that ACE-related experiences have both on physical and mental health. Impacts on mental health, as well as behaviors in close personal relationships, can include:
- Becoming isolated; or, alternatively, becoming approval seekers
- Struggling with a lack of sense of control; or, alternatively, becoming preoccupied with caring for others
- Feeling an unnecessary sense of guilt for taking care of yourself and/or expressing your needs
- Experiencing your feelings as inaccessible, confusing, or mysterious
- Intense self-judgment, shame, and low self-esteem
- Difficulty trusting and/or forgiving others
- Intense fear of rejection and/or abandonment, as well as hypervigilance to indicators of such within relationships
- Persistent “scarcity” mindset; such as expecting instances of emotional, physical, and monetary stability to unexpectedly end
If this sounds like you, I’m confident I can help.
Collaboratively, we will work to identify the presence of any generational patterns of trauma, abuse, addiction, or dysfunction. Next, we will identify weaknesses present in your own boundary system while working to diversify your communication skills and strengthen these weaknesses. Learned communication skills will continually be utilized within problematic relationships. We will identify ways to seek and maintain a variety of healthy supports. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (see associated link) will also be utilized to directly assist in addressing any persistently harmful or bothersome thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors, such as those listed above.
Please contact me today to discuss whether you would benefit from therapy for the adult child of dysfunctional families.