Evidence-Based Answers to Questions About Trigger Warnings for Clinically-Based Distress: A Review for Teachers (original) (raw)

Helping or Harming? The Effect of Trigger Warnings on Individuals with Trauma Histories

2019

Objective: Trigger warnings alert trauma survivors about potentially disturbing forthcoming content. However, most empirical studies on trigger warnings indicate that they are either functionally inert or cause small adverse side effects. These evaluations have been limited to either trauma-naïve participants or mixed samples. Accordingly, we tested whether trigger warnings would be psychologically beneficial in the most relevant population: survivors of serious trauma. Method: Our experiment was a preregistered replication and extension of a previous one (Bellet, Jones, & McNally, 2018); 451 trauma survivors were randomly assigned to either receive or not receive trigger warnings prior to reading potentially distressing passages from world literature. They provided their emotional reactions to each passage; self-reported anxiety was the primary dependent variable. Results: We found no evidence that trigger warnings were helpful for trauma survivors, for those who self-reported a PT...

Instructors' Use of Trigger Warnings and Behavior Warnings in Abnormal Psychology

College students have been increasingly demanding warnings and accommodations in relation to course topics they believe will elicit strong, negative emotions. These ''trigger warnings'' are highly relevant to Abnormal Psychology because of the sensitive topics covered in the course (e.g., suicide, trauma, sex). A survey of Abnormal Psychology instructors (N ¼ 131) indicated that the majority of them regularly warned students to avoid course-specific behaviors such as stigmatizing mental illness, diagnosing people they know, and sharing personal information. In contrast, the majority of instructors did not provide regular warnings over the course topics that might trigger students, and most instructors had neutral or negative opinions about trigger warnings. Overall, the results suggest that most Abnormal Psychology instructors do not view trigger warnings as essential to the teaching of sensitive topics.

Responding to Students with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Schools

Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 2012

The prevalence of trauma exposure among youth is a major public health concern, 6 with a third of adolescents nationally reporting that they have been in a physical fight in the past twelve months and 9% having been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property. 7 Studies have documented the broad range of negative sequelae of trauma exposure for youth, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), other anxiety problems, depressive symptoms, and dissociation. In addition, decreased IQ and reading ability, lower grade-point average (GPA), more days of school absence, and decreased rates of high school graduation have been associated with exposure to traumatic events. Evidence suggests that youth exposed to trauma have decreased social competence and increased rates of peer rejection. 43 Therefore, students who have experienced a traumatic event are at increased risk for academic, social, and emotional problems as a result of these experiences. Schools can be an ideal setting for mental health professionals to intervene with traumatized students, by supporting both their trauma-related psychological problems and their ability to learn in the classroom. The President's New Freedom Commission Report on Mental Health also highlights the need to improve access to services that address trauma-

Trigger Warnings: From Panic to Data

Journal of Legal Education, 2017

Introduction Following a practice originated online, university faculty and staff have increasingly used “trigger warnings” to alert students to the possibility that they might be affected or even harmed by potentially traumatic material. This practice has led to a passionate debate about whether such warnings stifle or encourage student expression and academic freedom, and whether they are beneficial or detrimental to learning. In this article, we illustrate the history and current state of this debate, and examine the scientific support for the arguments for and against the use of such warnings. Specifically, we question the scientific basis for the suggestion that trigger warnings may foreclose critical analysis, while highlighting the negative impacts of forcing victims of assault to bear their trauma unaided. We discuss the state of research on the impact of trigger warnings on student learning and mental health. The article concludes with recommendations about how to construct...

Uncoddling the American Mind: The Educational Ask of Trigger Warnings

Philosophy of Education , 2020

Over the last few years there has been growing attention to the work of schools-be it primary, secondary, or tertiary-as they provide (or fail to provide) students an education that is safe and inclusive. The rise of "safe spaces" and the development of practices that attend to the diverse student body have led to a veritable explosion of research, opinions, and debates about the contemporary state of education and its subjects. A central concept within this conversation is the rise of and request for trigger warnings. The "trigger warning"-a request for a pre-emptive warning about difficult material that could trigger past trauma-has often come to act as a stand-in that represents the larger fragile new world that places of learning have supposedly become. Students, within this context, have become snowflakes while faculty have become frightened of, or resistant to, students. However, rather than bemoan the rise of trigger warnings, so often done in op-ed pages and other journalistic sites, I argue that the request for trigger warnings by students represents an important educational ask. In this paper, I offer an argument that centralizes and unpacks the educational ask of trigger warnings, moving to the side of political and therapeutic discourses that have dominated how to receive the requests for trigger warnings.

Trigger Warnings: Caring or Coddling

The Australian and New Zealand Student Services Association, 2017

Trigger warnings are proposed as a strategy to keep university students safe from potentially distressing material. While used internationally for several years, they have begun to be formally implemented in some Australian universities. This paper provides a critical review of the underlying theoretical premises of trigger warnings and the personal and professional impact of such warnings for students in health professions. As with most short-term avoidance strategies, trigger warnings are likely to have a negative impact on student mental health, rather than improve it. The warnings undermine the autonomy and selfmanagement skills of students as independent, adult learners. If these warnings become more widespread, they have significant implications for the resilience of students. For students in health professions, who need skills to manage a wide-range of often unpleasant topics and provide responsive and competent treatment for their patients, they have the potential to result in adverse outcomes in patient care. The development of coping skills to flexibly self-manage and self-regulate emotions and behaviour is an important graduate attribute and provides an alternative to counterproductive trigger warnings.

Trigger warning: Empirical evidence ahead

Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 2018

Background and objectives: Trigger warnings notify people of the distress that written, audiovisual, or other material may evoke, and were initially used to provide for the needs of those with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Since their inception, trigger warnings have become more widely applied throughout contemporary culture, sparking intense controversy in academia and beyond. Some argue that they empower vulnerable individuals by allowing them to psychologically prepare for or avoid disturbing content, whereas others argue that such warnings undermine resilience to stress and increase vulnerability to psychopathology while constraining academic freedom. The objective of our experiment was to investigate the psychological effects of issuing trigger warnings. Methods: We randomly assigned online participants to receive (n = 133) or not receive (n = 137) trigger warnings prior to reading literary passages that varied in potentially disturbing content. Results: Participants in the trigger warning group believed themselves and people in general to be more emotionally vulnerable if they were to experience trauma. Participants receiving warnings reported greater anxiety in response to reading potentially distressing passages, but only if they believed that words can cause harm. Warnings did not affect participants' implicit self-identification as vulnerable, or subsequent anxiety response to less distressing content. Limitations: The sample included only non-traumatized participants; the observed effects may differ for a traumatized population. Conclusions: Trigger warnings may inadvertently undermine some aspects of emotional resilience. Further research is needed on the generalizability of our findings, especially to collegiate populations and to those with trauma histories.

Conceal and Carry: Communicating about Trauma, Triggers, and Second Assaults in the Classroom

2018

SECTION 6.6 (IM)POSSIBLE FUTURE ARTICULATIONS….…………………………………………… CHAPTER ONE The Scope of the Trigger Warning Debate 2013 was "the year of trigger warnings," according to Slate Magazine. 1 Though the term dates back to the early twentieth century, "trigger warnings" gained traction within online feminist communities in the 1990s. 2 Trigger warnings are disclaimers or forewarnings that alert audiences that content contains the potential for negative affective responses. 3 Often, they are used before exposing audiences to graphic or traumatic material, such as depictions of sexual violence. 4 Trigger warnings, I argue, are a visible marker of the need for a corrective response to a pervasive rape culture. 5