Wednesday, November 26, 2014

What is a Trigger Warning For?

I mean, I know what a trigger is when you're posting something somewhere, something that might trigger bad feelings or bad memories and such, but I mean, what is the point of it?


I joined several FB pages a few months back. I have to admit that initially I did it for the publicity, to get my blog and You Tube Channel out there and later on my novel. But then I kind of got involved, you know, with certain people, their stories, their lives, their problems. It's interesting to read about the different types of OCD, different treatments, different medications and, in general, how other people deal with OCD in their lives.

Then I started noticing trigger warnings, not just on the OCD pages, but also on the depression and Women Helping Each Other type pages. I tried to post something and was told I couldn't post it without a trigger warning.

So I started looking more closely at the FB pages I was on. Almost every post says "Trigger Warning" and then the person writes their message in the comments. If they don't do this, they are reprimanded by other posters, "You should have put a trigger warning!"

Okay, so if that's the case, how does one know if the content is a trigger or not without reading it first? Some people are even told to put "POSSIBLE trigger warning." lol Now it's all I see, all I think about, la da da da da. It's OCD, people! It seems odd to me that in group where you're supposed to share your concerns and fears, you have to put warnings to do so. How do people think they are going to get better by avoiding the very disorder they have?

I linked one of my videos about dreaming about my funeral in a group and it was taken down because the admin said it could have "triggered thousands of followers to worry about death." Really? So I'm responsible for causing thousands of people to worry about death? Sorry, but I don't think I have that kind of power.


So I've gotten out of most of the FB groups I was in; kept a few that have trigger warnings once in awhile, but not every post.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

Namaste,
~b~