There is no need for concern, reading this post will be quite safe.
But, today, in many colleges of secondary education, a new phrase is becoming noteworthy, that is, ‘trigger warning’. Actually, this phrase has a history of more than five years. It describes a mandated warning, given by a teacher or lecturer, before talking about a subject that may cause a traumatic reaction in certain students.
For some time, some students have voiced concern that certain subjects, for example, physical violence, rape, a clinical procedure, or cancer, can create extreme reaction in just one specific student without even the student being aware of any apparent prior experience.
In fact, trigger subjects are not necessarily of a violent nature. The subject may seem to be quite benign, for example, a happy child at play, may trigger a terrible memory of a related tragedy.
Now, there is a reaction by some teachers (and even some students) that young adults in secondary education must learn the life skills that develop strength of character, and should not require a trigger warning.
Are students of 2015 more prone to trauma?
I think that it is also worth mentioning that some psychologists are concerned that drawing attention to the potential for trauma could result in a “placebo effect”, causing more students to be traumatized than otherwise would have been. It has been suggested that there was a need to emphasize that it was also fine if students were not affected.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, this issue may be relevant outside of academia, for example, in the business workplace or, even, the home.
I suppose that we all feel trauma at some time or other ... it is a matter of the impact.