The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE Study) is a research study conducted by Dr. Vincent Felitti, Chief of Kaiser Permanente’s Department of Preventative Medicine in San Diego California, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Dr. Felitti realized individuals he worked with who struggled with obesity were hundreds of pounds overweight, but they did not see their weight as a problem. For them, eating was the solution to the problem. Eating soothed the anxiety, fear, anger, or depression – similar to the effects drugs, alcohol or tobacco have.

 

This discovery was the beginning of the mind-shift that would provide greater understanding about the lives of millions of people around the world who use coping methods including alcohol, drugs, marijuana, food, tobacco, violence, and work, to escape intense fear, anxiety, depression, and anger.

​

The Real Problem

Public health experts, social service workers, educators, therapists, and policy makers commonly regard addiction as a problem. Some, however, are beginning to understand that turning to drugs is an expected response to serious childhood trauma, and that telling people who smoke or overeat or overwork that they should stop because these things are bad for them does not work when those behaviors provide a temporary, but gratifying, solution to a bigger problem.

​