Trauma trigger
A trauma trigger is the subjective attribution that a psychologic stimulus caused someone to recall the memory of a previous psychological trauma, although the stimulus itself need not be frightening or traumatic and can be indirectly or superficially reminiscent of an earlier traumatic incident. Trauma triggers are related to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition in which people often cannot control the recurrence of emotional or physical symptoms,[1] or of repressed memory.[2][3][4] Triggers can be subtle and difficult to anticipate,[1][5] and can sometimes exacerbate PTSD. A trauma trigger may also be referred to as a trauma stimulus or a trauma stressor.[6]
Contents
Visual media[edit]
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It has been suggested that the realistic portrayal of graphic violence in visual media may cause sufferers to encounter trauma triggers while watching movies or television.[7]
Trigger warnings[edit]
Trigger warnings are warnings that a work contains writing, images, or concepts which could act as a trauma trigger.[8] The term and concept originated on the Internet and then spread to other areas, such as print media and university courses.[8] The mental health effects of trigger warnings have not been well studied.[9]
Now that trigger warnings have appeared in other media, Jay Caspian Kang, best known for his sports writing at Grantland, accused these warnings of "reducing a work of literature to its ugliest plot points".[10]
In higher education[edit]
Students at UC Santa Barbara passed a resolution in support of mandatory trigger warnings for classes that could contain potentially upsetting material. Professors would be required to alert students of such material and allow them to skip classes that could make them feel uncomfortable.[11] A professor at Texas A&M University argues "the purpose of trigger warnings is not to cause students to avoid traumatic content, but to prepare them for it, and in extreme circumstances to provide alternate modes of learning."[12]
The American Association of University Professors has issued a report critical of trigger warnings in university contexts, stating that "The presumption that students need to be protected rather than challenged in a classroom is at once infantilizing and anti-intellectual."[13] Angus Johnston, a history professor at the City University of New York, said that trigger warnings can be a part of "sound pedagogy", noting that students encountering potentially triggering material are "coming to it as whole people with a wide range of experiences, and that the journey we're going on together may at times be painful. It's not coddling them to acknowledge that. In fact, it's just the opposite."[14]
See also[edit]
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Look up Appendix:Glossary of traumatology in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- Acute stress reaction
- Emotional dysregulation
- Flashback (psychology)
- Hypervigilance
- Repressed memory
- Survivor guilt
References[edit]
- ^ a b Kolk, Bessel van der (July 2015). "The body keeps the score: memory and the evolving psychobiology of posttraumatic stress". Harvard Review of Psychiatry. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 1 (5): 253–65. PMID 9384857.
- ^ "Post-traumatic stress disorder, a real illness". nimh.nih.gov. National Institute of Mental Health. 11 October 2007. Archived from the original on 15 October 2007.
- ^ Herman, pp. 37, 42.
- ^ "Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)". vvaa.org.au. Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia. 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
- ^ Staff writer (2015). "Post traumatic stress disorders in rape survivors". survive.org.uk. UK: Survive. Archived from the original on 16 October 2015.
- ^ Fagan, Nancy; Freme, Kathleen (February 2004). "Confronting posttraumatic stress disorder". Nursing. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 34 (2): 52–53. doi:10.1097/00152193-200402000-00048. PMID 14758331.
- ^ Ephron, Dan (1 October 2006). "Battlefield flashbacks". Newsweek. Newsweek LLC. Retrieved 20 December 2007.[dead link]
- ^ a b "Trigger warnings: What do they do?". Ouch blog. BBC. 25 February 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
- ^ "Evaluating the evidence on micro-aggressions and trigger warnings". The Economist. Retrieved 2017-10-28.
- ^ Caspian Kang, Jay (May 2014). "Trigger warnings and the novelists mind". The New Yorker. Condé Nast.
- ^ Jarvie, Jenny (3 March 2014). "Trigger happy". The New Republic. Chris Hughes.
- ^ Lockhart, Elanor Amaranth (28 Sep 2016). "Why trigger warnings are beneficial, perhaps even necessary". First Amendment Studies. 50 (2): 59–69. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
- ^ "On Trigger Warnings". American Association of University Professors. August 2014.
- ^ Johnston, Angus (May 2014). "Trigger warnings: a professor explains why he's pro-trigger warnings". Slate. The Slate Group.
Further reading[edit]
- Herman, Judith Lewis, MD (1992). Trauma and Recovery. BasicBooks, A Division of HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 9780465087655.
- Ouch blog (25 February 2014). "Trigger warnings: What do they do?". BBC news. BBC. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
- Pozo, Diana (July 2015). "Trigger warnings and the porn studies classroom". Porn Studies. Taylor and Francis. 2 (2–3): 286–289. doi:10.1080/23268743.2015.1054683.
External links[edit]
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