In the 2015, CDC ACE’s Study two-thirds of individuals reported at least one adverse childhood experience. The number of ACEs was strongly associated with adulthood high-risk health behaviors such as smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, promiscuity, and severe obesity, and correlated with ill-health including depression, heart disease, cancer, chronic lung disease and shortened lifespan. Compared to an ACE score of zero, having four adverse childhood experiences was associated with a seven-fold (700%) increase in alcoholism, a doubling of risk of being diagnosed with cancer, and a four-fold increase in emphysema; an ACE score above six was associated with a 30-fold (3000%) increase in attempted suicide.

To help individuals reconnect and bridge the gap between mind and body, NARM therapy focuses on five organizing principles related to core capacities that allow people to have a healthy sense of self, develop the capacity for meaningful intimacy, and regulate both biological and emotional responses.

These include:

• Supporting connection and organization
• Exploring identity
• Supporting emotional completion
• Working in present time
• Supporting re-regulation of all systems of the body
• NARM 5 Developmental Life Themes & Core Capacities
• Connection: The ability to be in touch with oneself and others and feel belonging
• Attunement: The ability to recognize one’s own needs and reach out for help when one cannot meet their needs alone
• Trust: The ability to have faith in oneself and one’s choices as well as others; healthy dependence and interdependence
• Autonomy: The ability to set limits, speak one’s mind without feeling guilt or fear, and set boundaries
• Love-Sexuality: The ability to open one’s heart to loving relationships with themselves and others and embrace sexual intimacy in viable, healthy relationships