Trigger Warning!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Mods : This may be in the wrong place as I have yet to figure out how to get to the break room.

I have been told at my school and facility that we are now required to give a trigger warning before we speak an opinion that may offend the sensibilities of another. Something on the lines of "I have to warn you that I am about to say something that may trigger a strong negative emotion in you!" This gives members of the intended audience the opportunity to recuse themselves from the conversation to avoid being triggered or otherwise negatively effected by what I am about to say!

IMHO political correctness is simply suppression of constitutionally protected free speech which is a basic human right in this country (USA). I am wondering how many others on this forum find this trend ridiculous. I am purposely not going into specific details or issues with this - just wondering how many of my fellows feel about this.

Hppy

Specializes in Disaster, Conflict Mgmt.
14 minutes ago, Emergent said:

Said like a person who doesn't know much about me or the others here. I'm sure there's plenty of trauma to go around.

BTW, you should have given us a trigger warning at the beginning of that comment.

I don't, that's true. But ya'll love to talk about snowflakes all the time and seem to me like kind of hateful towards those who may have additional needs. Its consistent here and a bit old.

Its always those complaining who make the 'you should've used a trigger warning" joke. Ya'll ain't funny and ya'll kind of sensitive.

1 Votes
Specializes in ICU.
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.

8 Votes
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.

Specializes in ICU and Dialysis.

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."

6 Votes
Specializes in ER, Trauma.

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!

5 Votes
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
6 hours ago, buttercup9 said:

During orientation, they had a trigger warning when they were discussing sexual assault/abuse and a number of people got up and left. I realize that it is an enormously sensitive and difficult topic, however, as a rape survivor myself, I understand perfectly how difficult it is to to sit through. Having said that, I know that sitting through it is exactly what you need to do. It isn't easy, in fact it is miserable, but you have to learn to be able to sit with it. You have to let yourself be uncomfortable and learn how to move through the world again. Everyone deals with their emotions differently, but we all have to learn to cope.

This is so eloquently said I may using in my coping skills group with my adolescent population tomorrow.

2 Votes
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).

Ok so must we list our trauma to be qualified to speak on this subject - do you really want to know???? Cause if you do I'll tell you about a childhood and early adulthood that is so truly horrific you might not believe it.

For years I held it all in and became a semi functional alcoholic/addict because I could not face that trauma. It was not until I started recognizing and working through my triggers and developing boundaries and coping skills, maintaining a hard won sobriety (17 years since my last drink) that I started to get well. I like to say that I am a bit of an expert on trauma informed care. Been doing adolescent psych for several years and have heard so many truly terrible things that in the past would have triggered my own PTSD. I would not be able to function if I stopped what I was doing every time someone said something triggering.

Hppy

6 Votes
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.

2 Votes

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.

6 Votes
Specializes in ER.

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

2 Votes

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.

Quote

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....

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