Trigger Warnings: A Help Or A Hinderance?

As I start writing this, I’ve no idea of a title. All I know is that there’s a subject I want to discuss. I don’t know where my ramblings are going to lead, but I have a topic & lots to say. Does anyone else do this with posts sometimes? So what do I want to talk about? Trigger Warnings. Do we have a duty to use them? Who should be using them? Why do we use them? Could everything be a potential trigger? Are trigger warnings a help or a hinderance? I’m sure by all my questions you can see just why I’ve no idea where this post is going!

Please note: No triggering subject is specifically discussed in this post.

So what brought this post about? I was really excited when I found out that The Olive Fox, a website that I contribute to, was going to be hosting a book club! If you enjoy reading come & join us! Our very first book was ‘The Girl On The Train’ by Paula Hawkins. This was a great read… until the last chapter or two. This was when the protagonist, Rachel, realised that her husband had been abusing her emotionally & physically when she’d blacked out due to drink (though actually this could have been her mind blocking the painful memories). For those of you who don’t know, I suffered with PTSD as the result of an abusive relationship. This isn’t something I have talked about on my blog, or in my life really. Not many people know. I do hope to write about it one day, but not just now. Rachel’s realisation of what had happened to her became more graphic than the vague memories she’s had in the rest of the book & was similar to what I experienced as my mind began allowing me to remember what happened to me, so I could process & deal with it. I was fine when I finished the book, but a couple of days later it was a different story. I didn’t have a bad PTSD relapse & it only lasted a few days, but it was something I had to deal with & was, ultimately, a set back for me. This lead me to wonder – why was there no warning on the book’s cover?

To try to organise my thoughts into something vaguely coherent, I’m going to try to answer the questions posed above.

Do We Have A Duty To Use Them? Why Do We Use Them?

In my opinion, yes. We have a moral obligation to protect each other from painful memories so strong that they can cause flashbacks, nightmares & physical symptoms caused by a general fear. There are others who feel differently though.

Who Should Be Using Them?

This is a tricky one, as there are usually no rules or standard practices. As bloggers, most of us feel a moral obligation to provide this warning to keep our readers safe. On the (physical) health Facebook groups I am part of, people use the words ‘Trigger Warning’ (or TW) & state the issue it relates to, before posting the specifics in the comments, again to keep others safe. Some of these groups do include the necessity for trigger warnings in their rules, though I have come across posts where it has not been implemented.

In the ‘real’ world, trigger warnings are probably most commonly used on TV. Dramas will warn of violence, scenes of a sexual nature & strong language. Before certain news articles you might hear “The following report contains images which some viewers may find disturbing.”

From my experience with The Girl On The Train, I think there is a case for books to contain trigger warnings. Along these lines, there has been debate in the US over the use of trigger warnings for college reading material. This will be discussed further under the title Are Trigger Warnings A Help Or A Hinderance? At my university, I experienced material that was both given a trigger warning & was not. I studies music & you’re probably wondering how on earth music could warrant a trigger warning. In both of these cases it was related to music videos.

In the Music & The Movie Image module I took, we studied the film version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. The lecturer who took this module didn’t include a blanket trigger warning to the whole class but, as he was aware of my PTSD, he let me know discretely before the lecture started that I might find some of the scenes upsetting. I didn’t have a problem, but really appreciated that he didn’t want me to suffer as a result of the material we were studying. What I don’t think he knew was that I’d had a reaction in a previous lecture, this time in my Music Business module. We had a visiting lecturer who’s main job was in artist management. In one of our lectures, he showed us one of his groups music videos. It was staged as an current day version of a classic novel. One which I was not familiar with. We were told this, but no trigger warning was given. In the video, one of the characters was stabbed. I still to this day have no idea why this affected me. A Freudian style representation where the blade represented the penis to me & the stabbing the sexual abuse I experienced? Or maybe it reminded me of the worst argument I had with my ex, when I had images of myself being beaten & left for dead in the remote house we shared? I don’t think I’ll ever know. I also don’t know how helpful a trigger warning would have been to me in this instance. I may not have reacted as violently as I did had we had a trigger warning (I was shaking so much my friend thought I was going to have a seizure), but I also don’t think I would known it would cause me such difficulties, so would have been unlikely to have removed myself from the lecture.

Could Everything Be A Potential Trigger?

The short answer here is yes. This is where common sense & judgement come in to play. There are certain things that would more commonly trigger a reaction in someone who has been through abuse. Images of abuse or in-depth descriptions. I don’t think I’m doing anything other than stating the obvious here. The smell of the mouthwash my ex used is something that is a trigger for me, but isn’t going to trigger the majority of people as they don’t have the same associations with the smell that I do. We need to use our judgement & decide if material could impact the majority.

Are Trigger Warnings A Help Or A Hinderance?

I believe trigger warnings are a help. Just as I was able to ask my now husband to change the flavour of his mouthwash to avoid the triggering smell that I associated with my ex’s, a trigger warning allows me to avoid certain material that is likely to cause me psychological harm. There are always going to be times when triggers are unavoidable, but I like to be able to minimise these. This avoidance is an acknowledged symptom of PTSD.

There are some that don’t feel as I do.

Laurie Essig, Associate Professor of Sociology & Gender Studies at Middlebury College, tired to make a joke of the need for trigger warnings in a class, in this article for The Chronicle of Higher Education, saying “You know what’s worse than images of torture? Being tortured.” Unsurprisingly, her class did not find this amusing. This came after she had previously been told by a group of students that a trigger warning should have been included for a class involving the comparison of high-fashion models to pro-anorexia images. Essig goes on to say that trigger warnings on material belittles the trauma itself. To me, this demonstrates a lack of understanding of PTSD & similar conditions. I also feel that not acknowledging that material can be a trigger to people in itself belittles the terrifying experiences that cause PTSD. Essig is of the opinion that trigger warnings are an oppression on free speech. My counter argument would that not providing on on sensitive material is an oppression on free choice.

Unfortunately, for those who try to be transparent about the material they use, it is not always appreciated. It’s a catch twenty two.

Lori Horvitz, a Professor of Literature and Language at University of North Carolina, discusses in her article for The Guardian the difficulties faced by lecturers who cover more sensitive topics. She found that although she had vetted the material to the best of her ability, the response of students to one particular book studied was that resulted in one student stating that Horvitz was not only being insensitive to her students’ well-being, but also insulting rape victims. To me, this is an extreme view. I appreciate trigger warnings so I can decide whether I wish to experience material, but understand that this is not always possible. I do not believe I would ever view the a lack of a trigger warning an insult everything I have been through.

The demand for trigger warnings from students in the US has reached the point where the American Association of University Professors has released a report stating that trigger warnings “provide a threat to academic freedom” & that their use may be “counterproductive to the education experience.” Their concern is that by giving a trigger warning, the way the material is consumed will be compromised. They feel that a trigger warning may place emphasis on one aspect of the material over others & reduces the element of surprise, ultimately altering the way students interpret material.

It seems that trigger warnings started in the feminine blogosphere & have developed & grown to be used by the wider society. There are different views on whether their use is a help or a hinderance. So I ask, are trigger warnings a bad thing or should we embrace their use to support the more vulnerable of our society? After all, material that contains flashing lights is required to give a warning for the safety of those with photosensitive epilepsy & similar. Why should mental health be any different?

What are your views on the way trigger warnings are used?

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