More than half our children in the US suffer from one or more Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE), such as: crime, neglect, abuse, growing up around domestic violence, substance abuse or the loss of a parent. Studies show that these traumatic events have far reaching implications into adult life; raising the likelihood of addictive behaviors, incarceration and violence and ultimately passing on their traumatic legacy to the next generation of innocent children.
Dr. Macy and his colleagues also found startling results in a study on rates of PTSD among children 5 to 18 enrolled in Massachusetts Medicaid. If this were a measurement of measles or the flu it would be considered an epidemic.