Young victims of sexual, physical or emotional abuse. Children like these who suffer multiple traumatic events will have shorter lives according to a new CDC study. Not surprising to child psychologist Mitch Spero.

"An accumulation of negative or near life threatening events can lead to a post traumatic stress disorder, which can lead to a situation where a predisposition for any illness is brought to the surface and actually occurs," he says.

The adverse childhood experiences or ace study studied 17,000 adults. Among those who reported six or more traumatic events when they were young, their lifespan was 19 years shorter and were twice as likely to die by age 65. Why?

"Some children and adolescents will begin to self medicate either with alcohol and drugs,” says Spero, “when you're extremely stressed, your level of concentration declines and you're more likely to have different types of accidents."

Researchers say major stress beginning at an early age can weaken the immune system over time. And while children are perceived to be resilient, they are actually more vulnerable because they lack coping mechanisms to deal with traumatic events.

"Our goal in psychology is to reduce the level of stress, process previous types of traumas and help people to remain healthy, emotionally and physically," Spero says.

Experts say it's wrong to assume children will simply get over it. While this study does not look at the impact of treatment, they say a traumatic childhood can be overcome and early intervention makes a difference.