Trigger Warnings And Trigger "words"

[GhostedGirl]

I've been coming here for a long time. I've struggled with PTSD for most of my adult life and I've noticed an increase in the use of trigger warnings in social media. Which I feel is both good and bad...

I hope this isn't offensive but I feel like a lot of young people are beginning to see mental illness like a fashion accessory. It's something that makes them different, special, or tragic. And there has been a huge boom in people on social media using trigger warnings, but for the most ridiculous stuff. (obesity, numbers, religion, or referring to rape as "the r-word" etc.)

I've been researching PTSD ever since I was diagnosed yeas ago and in that time I've seen people using the idea of "trigger words" the most on social media. Has anyone ever had simply reading a word trigger a flashback? I mean I can be made uncomfortable, I can even be made to stop reading if the content is too intense. But that's just not the same. A lot of young people seem to think being uncomfortable, angry, or offended is the same as being triggered.

What's worse is there has been a huge backlash to this overuse. Many people think trigger warnings are just for over-sensitive social justice warriors or melodramatic teenage girls. This is really frustrating to me because I don't feel comfortable talking about my PTSD (except on this forum) because of the association with these Tumblr kids.

I would love to know what you all think. Again, I don't mean this to be offensive. If you disagree please feel free to share your opinions. :)

 

[Hannah 1356]

Hey, I've recently been diagnosed with PTSD. I totally agree on people seeing mental illness as fashionable. I ho to art school and I see a lot of people trying so hard to relate themselves to kind of mental illness.
For me, I've never felt that I was triggered by a word in social media. I just don't like people to touch me! and if they do I go crazy.

 

[broken brain]

I hope this isn't offensive but I feel like a lot of young people are beginning to see mental illness like a fashion accessory.

Not offensive at all. I feel that self-harm also became sexy and popular in a way as well for a younger generation. But that could be a whole other issue. People throw around words all the time "Omg I'm so OCD. All my books must blah blah blah", or "If he doesn't call me back I will totally slit my wrists". Totally offensive. We're told not to use defamatory words about homosexuality, ethnicity, and the use of the word 'retarded', so how is this any different? That's my rant. lol

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Those of us who have it don't want it because we know the hell that is inside our minds which we cannot escape.

Sometimes people are sad but that doesn't mean they have depression. Sometimes people are anxious bug that doesn't mean they have an anxiety disorder. Sometimes people go from happy to sad but that doesn't mean they're bipolar. And sometimes bad shit happens but that doesn't mean they have PTSD.

It's a VERY big trend in society to have the need to differentiate yourself from the crowd. Even patents do this to their kids...how often do you see someone young who has a common name (in pronunciation) but its spelled in some whacked out way just so the parents can feel that their child is unique? (And then the parents usually complain that everyone says their kids name wrong, lol) Everyone just wants to be special and unfortunately there's a pretty pathetic subset that gains a sense of individuality by self-diagnosing with a mental disorder. Yeah, people are pretty messed up.

I just do the whole eye roll, while I think they're pathetic thing so it doesn't get under my skin. If people want to spend what little time they have on this earth pretending to be mentally ill because it makes them feel special, all the power to them. I much rather work on healing so i can live a better life.

 

[Ryn]

There are a couple words that sometimes trigger me when spoken aloud, but usually not when reading, and I figure that's just something I'll have to get over. I think healing should be more about helping myself adapt to the world, and less about trying to make the world adapt to me. As Dumbledore says... ;) "Fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself."

I think the very word "trigger" is one of those words that's been taken way out of proportion and misused in various contexts. I mean, if you know you're writing to a group of sensitive trauma survivors, and you know you're going to be writing about an incident in graphic detail that's going to spring up out of the middle of the paragraph, then sure, you can mention it's triggering at the beginning if you want. That's reasonable and considerate. The point is, it's out of concern that your words might actually trigger a flashback for trauma survivors. Not, as you said, make someone merely uncomfortable, offended, or even anxious.

Personally I like that this site doesn't use trigger warnings. The people here are just real people telling their real stories; there's no need to make things seem more dramatic by labelling certain things with certain warnings. Whether a person tells their story with all the deep and gritty detail or they barely get out "I have PTSD," they are all equally worth listening to.

And to be honest, sometimes things need to be "triggering". Today I was at an event where the speaker began to talk passionately about human trafficking and sexual abuse. I admit I froze for a second, had to gather myself and breathe, as I didn't know beforehand that subject would be discussed. But once I grounded myself enough to listen, I was glad that the speaker chose to divulge some frightening statistics and details, even if they made me a bit unsettled and dissociated for the rest of the day. The people around me were shocked and upset, but they needed to hear that in order to be moved enough to do something about it. That's why I don't like when people put trigger warnings on stuff like "trafficking" or "bullying" or "self-harm" or the like. These things might be hard to think about, but we need to think about them. Trigger warnings allow us to scroll past things that are incredibly important and need awareness, just because we don't want to feel uncomfortable or inconvenienced or offended or otherwise put-out by reading them.

Anyway, that's my little rant for the day. Thanks for the thread. This has actually been on my mind a lot lately.

 

[arfie]

To give away my age, when I was dating, "What's your sign?" was a typical conversation starter. That seems to have morphed to, "What's your diagnosis?"

When I first started using, "Trigger Warning" I used it as, "I am triggered. Please be gentle." I don't use it at all any more. It seems to mean something different to everybody. I just let it be.

 

[GhostedGirl]

I'm glad it's not just me. Someone mentioned the self harm community and cutting. Now I can't really pass judgement because when I was in school in the 90's, this wasn't really a thing. I'm sure some kids did it, but it seems to have exploded into a fad with teens now. On YouTube there are hundreds of videos about cutting with titles like "TRIGGER WARNING: Self Harm!!" but then the thumbnail is their arm or wrist covered in cuts. And I'm like... UUUMM... couldn't that image be really triggering for someone with self harm issues...? Do you even know what a trigger is? And if you're so ashamed, as you say you are, why are you putting on the internet for everyone to see? I clearly don't understand.

I feel ashamed because I don't want to be dismissive of these people. But it just screams, "I'm just doing this for attention". I'd never say anything to them about it because oh God what if they weren't?! They would probably be really hurt.

 

[Ryn]

Self-harm in particular is something I try to be careful about throwing judgment around. I've had a long struggle with self-harm and am extremely self-conscious and secretive about it - and then there are people who, seemingly shamelessly, post pictures all over the internet and can't stop talking about it. I have a friend who did it for shock value because she was being neglected by everyone around her and it was her way of screaming "help me". Is that a cry for attention? Yes, but obviously an important one that needs listening to.

I don't know the statistics about cutting simply as a fad, so I can't comment on that. I'd be interested to know. From my personal perspective, I think that if you're cutting yourself (or addicted to drugs, alcohol, etc), you have pain somewhere that needs to be addressed, even if on the surface level you think you're just doing it for a fad. So I just try to keep that in mind when I see the sorts of things you mention.

Little bit off-topic, sorry. I guess that's another reason I don't think self-harm should be labelled with a trigger warning - it needs to be taken seriously. But I totally get what you're saying; I've definitely felt the same annoyance despite myself. Though, you have to wonder how many of those videos and pictures are put up by people who've never self-harmed and are just looking for a high view count. Now that's a different sort of "doing it for attention" that actually pisses me off - faking such a hugely important issue for popularity?! :banghead:

 

[broken brain]

And... here's a personal antidote, so bear with me, but I've dated men (3 different ones to be exact) who were attracted to me being a self-harmer. That is so, so messed up. Somehow it has become sexy to shed blood (I'm looking at the whole vampire/teeny booper phenomenon), but there is nothing sexy about it.

 

[broken brain]

@Ryn I think discussions about self harm are extremely helpful, but for me, seeing pictures of it is an instant trigger. That would be one instant where I would appreciate the warning.

 

[Ryn]

@broken brain, agreed. Same for me. I try to stay away from tumblr and such websites - it's a minefield of self-harm images. :confused:

 

[GhostedGirl]

@@broken brain Eek! How awful! That really is gross and objectifying of them. :(