FOCUS MONOTEMATICO Contemplating the interaction between ACEs and mental health disorders

Felitti (1993) defines Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) as potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood and adolescence (up to the age of 18) and that refer to episodes of violence or abuse of any kind (physical, emotional and sexual violence, physical and emotional neglect, witnessing violence at home or in the community, attempted or actual suicide of a family member, etc.). ACEs include all aspects of the environment that contribute to create a climate of insecurity for the child, such as unstable relationships, family members suffering of addictions and/or mental health problems, instability due to the separation or divorce of the parents, etc. (Dube, Felitti, Dong, Giles, & Anda, 2001). Regardless of the type of ACE, researchers agrees that childhood adversity significantly increases the risk of psychopathological disorders in adult-hood, such as bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder (Teicher & Samson, 2013), depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, substance depend-ence, psychotic disorders and PTSD (Scott, Smith, & Ellis, 2010). Numerous longitudinal and cross-sectional studies have established an association between childhood trauma and the presence of psychiatric and neuropsychiatric disorders in adulthood (Scott et al., 2012). Being a victim of child sexual abuse, for example, often seems to be associated with the onset of eating disorders, personality disorders, depressive episodes, etc. It has also been found that women who have been sexually abused as children are more likely to suffer from mental health problems and are at greater risk of developing addictions, both to alcohol (Jester, Steinberg, Heitzeg, & Zucker, 2015) and to drugs (Dube et al., 2003).