By Claudia

You suggested that I look at the ACE -- Adverse Childhood Experiences -- study, and take the survey. I believe my score might make me more susceptible to self-sabotaging -- can you give me some guidance?

There are scores of university studies correlating adverse childhood experiences with addictive behavior. We now understand that the left prefrontal cortex is formed by the age of 18 months, the left one by 6 years. The implication of this early brain development is that our internal sense of self is negatibly influenced by these early adverse experiences. These often lead to a sense of "There is something wrong with me." When one of our core beliefs is that "I'm basically flawed." it must be re-enforced by recurrent experiences. In the case of a food addict, the recurrent experience is overeating, a return to the cycle of shame and to the re-enforcement of the core belief of inadequacy.

The comprehensive solution is to commit to eradicate this pattern of self-admonishment, the very belief that returns us to the cycle of shame, we must develop a healthy acceptance of our humanity. Being human means accepting that we are not perfect, but we are also not inherently flawed! When we develop a nurturing, accepting inner dialogue we don't need to continue feeding the cycle of shame. The self-sabotaging behaviors then stops.