COVID-19 “Trauma and Its Effect on African Americans”

Our Guest is Dr. Carlian Dawson, Ed. D. sharing on “Trauma and Its Effect on African Americans”.

Today, the Kaiser Permanente & Center of Disease Control (CDC) ACE study is one of the largest investigations of the relationship between childhood trauma and social and health consequences later in life. The science is clear, early adversity dramatically effects health across a lifetime.

High doses of trauma affect the development of the brain, immune system, hormonal systems and even the way our DNA is read and transcribed. People exposed to high doses of trauma have 3x the lifetime risk of lung cancer, heart disease and a 20-yr. difference in life expectancy.

These threats are so deep it changes our physiology.

The ACE study (Fellitti and Anda) correlates against health outcomes. The higher the ACE score the worse your health outcomes. The more adverse childhood experiences a person has, the higher the likelihood that they develop cancer, depression, diabetes, alcoholism, smoking, heart disease, and substance use disorders in adulthood. I believe 20-30 years from now the effects of COVID-19 will show up in our children being born today.

ACEs covers three areas: Abuse, Neglect and Household Dysfunction including – bullying, homelessness, poverty & economic hardship, growing up in foster care, extreme illness or injury, historical and generational trauma, community violence, discrimination due to race/ethnicity, gender identity and sex orientation.