4 ms·

> there's virtually no research (at all) into "trigger warnings" by actual psychologists I assumed that these "warnings" were to alert a reader who may be "tri

• DanBC 11y ago
  In theory they're to allow people to make informed choices and to put in place safety mechanisms that allow them to access the material in a safe way. Very few people need that level of support, but since all that's being asked for is a simple (for example) "Watch out, this contains graphic scenes of attempted suicide" it's a reasonable request. The argument comes from two things: 1) People are policing content and preventing interesting content from being taught. Thus, anything with a trigger warning is seen as being not suitable for this campus and you're a monster for suggesting it should be taught here. That's obviously sub-optimal. 2) Avoiding something that causes you mental distress may not be the best way of overcoming that distress. I'm not recommending people just plough through distressing material (because that's unlikely to help them either) but having a warning and a bit of time to tackle the content in safe way is probably useful.