Yesterday I read an article re-posted on facebook, "Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Adult Mental Health Outcomes," JAMA Psychiatry, March 6, 2024.
They started the research with this question: Are ACEs associated with poor mental health in adulthood after adjustment for familial confounding due to shared genetic and environmental factors?" They ended with this expected finding: yes.
Their findings align with a large body of research in the field of psychology and public health and also with the theory first formulated by Sigmund Freud. In fact, plenty of studies have demonstrated fully the profound impact that ACEs can have on people's mental health throughout their lives.
Freud, founder of psychoanalysis, first proposed that early childhood experiences, particularly interactions with parents or caregivers, could profoundly influence personality development and psychological well-being.
Beyond ACEs, Freud's understanding of childhood experiences includes a broad range of factors, such as parental relationships, attachment patterns, or lack of attachment, and unresolved conflicts.
Freud suggested that children are very vulnerable and highly impressionable, and sensitive to their surroundings. Subconsciously there's no forget-and-forgive. All will stay. Even if a person consciously forgets an event, the underlying emotions and memories associated with it persist. The unresolved conflicts or repressed memories from childhood could continue to influence individuals subconsciously, impacting their psychological functioning and behavior in adulthood.
Hopefully all parents are taught about the importance of a happy childhood for the mental and psychological health 心灵健康(xīn líng jiàn kāng) of their children in their lifetime.