ACE Score

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A pivotal study conducted at Kaiser Permanente between 1995 and 1997 under the direction of Dr. Vincent Felitti and Dr. Robert Anda shook the world of Mental Health. That study, in which more than 17,000 people answered questions about their adverse childhood experiences, came to be known as the ACEs study.

The study consisted of a questionnaire that asked about 10 kinds of adverse childhood experiences. These experiences ranged from having a parent who was either an addict, alcoholic or depressed; parental death or divorce; being bullied or some other form of humiliation; or being either physically, emotionally, or sexually abused.

Unfortunately, the results of the study were as clear as they were sobering. It was found that around two-thirds of the respondents had experienced one or more ACEs, and about one-fifth of them had experienced three or more ACEs.