Trigger Warning!

28 minutes ago, Bonstemps said:

Spoken like a bunch of folks who don't really seem to understand trauma.

I understand your being upset and mystified, but when it does no harm to say a single sentence, why complain about it? It's for those who truly struggle, not for you who sits there and rolls your eyes.

Actually the people that insist on trigger warnings, safe spaces, etc are the ones who likely don’t really understand trauma. According to some recent research, this could be more harmful to those trying to cope with and overcome past traumas.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happiness-and-the-pursuit-leadership/201808/harvard-study-trigger-warnings-might-coddle-the%3famp

Also I know it’s coming, so I’ll go ahead and say that I have past traumas in my life, just so no one can accuse me of not understanding how it is to deal with trauma. If we are charged with caring for others, we need to be able to exercise effective coping mechanisms.

1 minute ago, Bonstemps said:

I agree with this. Its overused and people now associate it with something "weak" and "bad".

I think in our struggle to make people aware of triggers, it has lost its merit. This is very unfortunate.

The point of a trigger warning is not to protect people from hurt feelings. It's to be polite to those with PTSD, and physical reactions to certain things which they may not fully have control of.

An appropriate use of a trigger warning would be ,"hey, this book we are about to read has a somewhat graphic rape scene in it on page 72. If that's something personal to you, be prepared when you read it or skip that page."

Or ,"This movie has a scene that involves loud sounds like gunfire. If this is a trigger to anyone, let me know and I will mute the audio at that point."

It is NOT intended for people to avoid hearing opposing viewpoints or generally being exposed to unpleasant things. That's what the misuse of it usually looks like, and that's why it's become so meaningless. We need to go back to the old-reliable term we used to use "Viewer discretion is advised."

Nope, nope, nope. I have declared by virtue of the powers vested in me by Bart and Homer Simpson that the "Political Correctness" fad has run it's course and has become farcical. Spread the word near and far that, from this day forward, we are all responsible for our own emotions!

2 hours ago, 0.9%NormalSarah said:

Actually the people that insist on trigger warnings, safe spaces, etc are the ones who likely don’t really understand trauma. According to some recent research, this could be more harmful to those trying to cope with and overcome past traumas.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happiness-and-the-pursuit-leadership/201808/harvard-study-trigger-warnings-might-coddle-the%3famp

Also I know it’s coming, so I’ll go ahead and say that I have past traumas in my life, just so no one can accuse me of not understanding how it is to deal with trauma. If we are charged with caring for others, we need to be able to exercise effective coping mechanisms.

Hear hear! Part of recovering from a trauma is learning to resume your everyday life with those triggers present, but you are always working to eventually be able to cope with those triggers present. This may take weeks, or decades, but you're always working at it.

Excellent article by the way. I read it a while back when a friend and I were talking about trigger warnings. After reading the article, it stuck with me that some students suggested that a subject (rape law) not be taught because of the potential to cause distress. Not that it WOULD cause distress, but that it had the potential to. What about the people who actually were raped?! Those people I can understand being excused from class, but we're supposed to feel upset by rape, even if we've never been raped. That's not being triggered, that's called being compassionate and sensitive. By cutting out teaching a subject, we are sweeping an issue under the rug and inviting ignorance. We are not fostering a culture of sensitivity.

We don’t know trauma?? Are you kidding?

I’m a rape survivor where my rapist then stalked and tried to murder me. It led me to get into an abusive marriage because I was so scared to be alone at all.

I can have an intelligent conversation about sexual assault and domestic violence. I work on a Trauma unit. I’m able to be empathetic to my patient population without being triggered. It’s called coping.

I agree with the PP that stated that most who seem to be triggered the list have never actually experienced true trauma.

Being dumped by your boyfriend is not trauma. McDonalds messing up your order, not trauma. Not getting your way, not trauma.

Many of us on here have experienced true trauma. And we don’t need trigger warnings in life.

Well, this thread taught me a new thing. I had never heard of this trigger warning fad.

What does this have to do with free speech? You can still say the things you want to say, even if people decide they want to excuse themselves ahead of time.

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At the end of the day, if someone really is making a speech that is hateful, you can use your own speech to explain why he is wrong.

23 hours ago, skihan said:

Sometimes this is not enough....

I think this issue is more complicated than it seems on the surface. On one hand part of being a considerate and thoughtful human being is to be sensitive to the fact that we all have had different experiences in our lives including past hurts and traumas. We have to remember that people have various thresholds to emotional pain just as with physical pain and that the degree of resilience varies among each individual.

On the other hand we can't walk on eggshells around each other out of fear that we may "trigger" one another as this doesn't build resilience but prevents it.

What is the balance? How can we as a society and as nurses remain considerate and sensitive without taking things too far?

I