What Nadine Burke Harris has said about Adverse Childhood Experiences Study

3 quotes · 1 episode · Apr 27, 2026

Nadine Burke Harris, American pediatrician, ACEs researcher and former Surgeon General of California, has been quoted on Adverse Childhood Experiences Study 3 times in 1 episode of The Mel Robbins Podcast, most recently on April 27, 2026. Each quote below is verbatim and links to the moment it was said.

In their words

Burke Harris reports that the ACE Study found two-thirds of people had at least one ACE and that the CDC's updated data shows one in six Americans have four or more.
“Now, nationally, it's one in six individuals have experienced four or more of these traditional ACEs”
The Mel Robbins Podcast: Nervous System Reset: Do THIS Every Day to Rewire Your Brain From Stress and Anxiety (Apr 27, 2026) · Listen from 17:03
Burke Harris states that people with four or more ACEs had markedly elevated risks of depression, alcohol and opiate dependence, and heart disease.
“a person with four more ACEs was four and a half times as likely to experience depression, was seven times as likely to experience alcohol dependence”
The Mel Robbins Podcast: Nervous System Reset: Do THIS Every Day to Rewire Your Brain From Stress and Anxiety (Apr 27, 2026) · Listen from 18:17
Burke Harris says health-damaging behaviors account for only about half of the added risk from ACEs, with the rest attributable to the overactive stress response.
“looked at what happens when you remove the impact of health-damaging behaviors. And that was only about 50% of the risk”
The Mel Robbins Podcast: Nervous System Reset: Do THIS Every Day to Rewire Your Brain From Stress and Anxiety (Apr 27, 2026) · Listen from 18:17

Nervous System Reset: Do THIS Every Day to Rewire Your Brain From Stress and Anxiety
The Mel Robbins Podcast · Apr 27, 2026 · 1 h 15 min
Mel Robbins talks with pediatrician Dr. Nadine Burke Harris about adverse childhood experiences, overactive stress responses, and buffering practices that help regulate the nervous system.