Adverse Childhood Neglect Inventory – Barry K. Weinhold, Ph.D.

Can What Didn’t Happen To You As a Child Cause You to Freak Out as An Adult?

adverse childhood experiencesThe short answer is “yes.” Childhood neglect like childhood abuse has been linked to long-term health consequences and can be behind why you “freak out” in certain situations and with certain people.

The ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) studies have also linked childhood abuse and neglect to degenerative diseases in later adulthood. The more incidences of adverse childhood abuse or neglect you experienced, the more likely you will have heart disease, diabetes, strokes, cancer or other degenerative diseases.

You can find the questionnaire they used for their research at this link and take their quiz to see how many adverse childhood experiences you had.

One weakness in this research is that they focused more on childhood abuse than childhood neglect. That is why we created the Adverse Childhood Neglect Inventory shown below.

Take the Inventory and score it to see how much hidden childhood neglect you may have that causes you to freak out. You have to answer each question so if you don’t remember what happened to you, take a guess.

Your inner knowing will help you decide whether or not neglect is part of the reason why you freak out.