Turning Gold into Lead

The Life-Long Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences

“Never apologise for showing feeling, my friend. Remember that when you do so you apologise for truth.”—Benjamin Disraeli, Contarini Fleming¹

Victims of child maltreatment repress their memories out of shame, because of a social taboo, or out of respect for parents, but as long as we keep denying the link between adverse childhood experiences and problems later in life, no therapy or medication will help us solve those problems. By being emotionally honest to ourselves, we can break through the societal taboo on speaking out about the effects of child maltreatment. That starts by daring to ask what kind of effect traumatizing experiences have had on our lives.²