trigger warnings

Jocelyn Rants... on about Trigger Warnings  
 
An indiscernible pause as my lungs fill; shattered.  
This has never happened before, what's going on? I need to pretend like it hasn't happened, because the show must go on.  
 
The place, a mental health recovery conference. The event, my monologue. What occurred, several of the audience members noisily walk out as I take to the stage.  ​

After I deliver a feeble performance, they come back in, ready for confrontation. Apparently they had sat through six other monologues and found some of them “triggering “ therefore they chose to leave mine.  
For those who have not attended a recovery conference, there are a variety of presentations. This event covered the history of mental health provision, testimonies of personal lived experiences, new research and future provisions. Each date and venue had the privilege of monologues written and performed by individual Nuts company members. 
 
Yes, it hurt, them choosing to leave, the way they did, at the time they did. However their demands for a trigger warning left me perplexed. They had sat through the horrific history of asylums with details of treatment and grotesque equipment. Personal stories, delivered with the reality of the experiences of life, living with mental ill health. Yet my monologue, a dramatic reflection, derived from my experiences underscored with Samuel Barber's Adagio was deemed as a potential threat, thus they felt it should have carried a trigger warning. They argued that they found some of the other monologues triggering, yet they sat through them. In fact they had chosen to attend all the previous conferences sitting through every monologue on different days at different venues yet mine, the last conference date and the last monologue was such a potential threat that they noisily walked out as I set up the stage! 
 
So it got me to thinking... about trigger warnings.  
I'm an avid news watcher, I often talk to the telly when the anchor states,  the following article contains scenes some may find distressing. Really!?! I mean no disrespect, nor do I wish to appear flippant, but really? Scenes of war, violence,  poverty, famine, are we meant to gaze on indifferent, unfeeling,  are we meant to lose our humanity? 
The following film contains scenes of nudity, violence, horror etc. The child in me mostly wants to laugh. Unless it's horror. I don't do horror films, however I'm adult enough to check what I'm watching or is that the point? Responsibility for oneself.  I have spent some months before writing this researching (should read, using t’internet) ‘trigger warnings ‘ wishing to give a balanced view however it would appear the general consensus is, they don't work. It would appear they have “ a negligible impact on emotional reactions and on avoidance”. Further, trigger warnings can create “an anticipatory emotional response, as shown through both measures of affect and changes in heart rate... (suggests) people may anticipate distress but... does not stop them viewing “ The British Psychological Society.   
This is supported when considering university trigger warnings, “ students who met  the criteria for a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, 97.6% ignored the trigger warning and read on." 
Further there is data to “ support the notion that trigger warnings serve to increase anxiety. “ Psychology Today  
 
I have tried to find an academic paper/ institution that concluded differently but I'm afraid I didn't find anything.  
Yes, there are triggers in life, yet I believe the avoidance of content that may ‘trigger ‘ an adult, is about personal responsibility.  After going through a traumatic experience, it seems reasonable to avoid that which resembles the trauma, for a period. Life goes on and the hope is in time (with treatment where necessary) one can return to a full, enough, life.  
On  a side note, maybe I should have been warned that audience members could walk out, when I take to the stage! 
 
Just kidding 😏