Opinion columnist Alex Mink’s column grossly misunderstands and misrepresents the reality of trigger warnings, and the benefits they can have for victims of trauma.
As both the former Health and Science editor and a recent psychology graduate, I am compelled to say that Mink’s column on trigger warnings completely misses the mark. The piece doesn’t quite seem to grasp what it means to be triggered or how trigger warnings are used. It also misrepresents the issue as one related only to sexual assault and feminism.
First off, a person is not triggered. Rather, a condition, reaction or behavior is. Things like flashing lights trigger epileptic seizures, things like peanuts trigger allergic reactions, things like loud noises or explosions can trigger PTSD flashbacks and things like visible remembers of a sexual assault or hate crime trigger anxiety attacks. The body can’t tell whether your mind and heart is racing because of past events or because you’re trying to avoiding a sabre-tooth tiger, and it will shut down the parasympathetic nervous system and send you into fight-flight-or-freeze mode either way.
“The best way to deal with trauma is to confront it,” doesn’t mean people should be thrown to the sharks with no help or allowances. That would be no more effective than telling someone with a broken leg to walk it off without the aid of crutches or a cast. It means they need to address rather than ignore their problems, usually with the help of a trained professional.
Catherine Erickson, a U.Va. Women’s Center trauma counselor, warns against making blanket statements about trigger warnings.
“In my experience, healing from a traumatic event is very unique to each individual,” Erickson said. “What is difficult for one person is not always difficult for another. For that reason, I would not be comfortable commenting in a general way about whether or not trigger warnings are beneficial or harmful. They can impact each survivor differently.”
Much of Mink’s column, and the Slate article he links to, focuses on exposure therapy, which is just one of the treatments used to treat the effects of trauma. Exposure therapy involves starting small and working your way up, all the while in a safe setting with a reliable exit. While visiting traumatic topics in the classroom may be beneficial to someone already undergoing exposure therapy, it could be harmful to someone just starting out, or someone using a different kind of therapy, such as rapid eye movement therapy. Unless we want to require all college instructors to also be licensed clinicians, we should not ask students to start or work on this process under their supervision.
“No student should feel compelled to relive her worst experiences before an audience of her peers for course credit,” the Slate article said.
Suggesting the issue of trigger warnings is a feminist issue or a women’s issue is also problematic. The reported 10 percent of rape victims and 57 percent of military rape victims who are men now have to deal with people saying triggering is an issue for overly sensitive feminists — on top of having to listen to the truly horrible argument that “real men don’t get raped.”
Arguments which strong-minded people or people who do the “right” things to deal with their trauma don’t need trigger warnings often sound similar to arguments which strong people or people who behave the right way don’t get assaulted in the first place. They also play into the common misperception that a person having an emotional reaction “is just overreacting” and can’t be trusted.
A person given a trigger warning isn’t automatically going to leave. In fact, being warned in advance about something triggering may be the only way they can participate. Someone caught by surprise is less likely to have the tools in place to cope or a plan to take care of themselves afterward. And if they skip out, or make their best effort to stay but have to leave part way through, that doesn’t mean that they’ll never try again.
The “real world” contains trigger warnings, and everyone can benefit from them, whether they are a trauma survivor or not. Movies have ratings and tell you why they are rated that way. Television shows are rated, and may give extra viewer discretion warnings. Newscasts warn you when they contain graphic content. Albums have explicit labels. Teachers and professors who show videos of events like 9/11 or the Holocaust talk to their class about what they’re going to see and how they’re feeling after.
Like Mink says, not all trigger warnings can be easily identified. The web comic, “Trigger Warning: Breakfast” does a great job of addressing this, while demonstrating why we should respect people’s triggers. Addressing more common triggers can certainly still help people, and it lets students know that their professor is likely to be receptive if they want to discuss their specific triggers, and how best to deal with them. Not listing trigger warnings because you can’t cover them all would be like not listing common food allergens because you can’t cover them all.
This issue also strikes a personal chord with me, because I was sexually assaulted both the first time I was kissed and the first time I had sex. I took a criminology class, and my professor gave us some trigger warnings. These were helpful, but I still felt the need to ask for a few more, which he was more than happy to email me about. These did not prevent me from participating in the class in any way. In fact, they were actually what allowed me to participate, because being caught off guard caused me the most distress. Being broadsided like this sometimes resulted in me losing focus in the classroom, but other times, left me unable to sleep at night without feeling the weight of my rapist on top of me, which affected my performance in all my classes the next day. Being warned of the content ahead of time allowed me to steel myself, and told me that my professor was presenting things that other people had said, not attacking me myself.
How someone first encounters the idea of triggers or trigger warnings seems to be the main factor in whether they take them seriously. I first encountered them before either of my sexual assaults, while talking with a veteran coworker. He described how Al-Qaeda knew American troops loved Mountain Dew and started putting Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in Mountain Dew cans. While he still loved the drink, some of his buddies couldn’t stand to look at it. I actually went so far as to think what happened to me wasn’t bad enough to warrant discussing triggers or getting help, because that was only for people who’d seen combat. Hate crimes, experiencing natural or man-made disasters ranging from the Fire of London to the collapse of the Twin Towers, and witnessing death at a young age can all lead to conditions that can be triggered. I highly recommend that no one attempt to discuss triggers or trigger warnings before reading the VA page on the subject.
Meg Thornberry was the Health and Science editor for the 125th, 126th and 127th terms of The Cavalier Daily.
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