Persuasive Essay on Trigger Warnings

Imagine sitting in class, you feel great and you’re excited to learn. Then your professor starts to introduce a new topic. You suddenly start to have tightness in your chest, heavy breathing, and painful flashbacks are flooding your mind. Your professor has just brought up your forbidden topic. You sit there paralyzed and tormented, everyone is looking at you. Luckily, a classmate of yours escorts you out of the classroom and ensures that you are safe. You might be thinking, this only applies to a few people, but it doesn’t many people have post-traumatic stress disorder, and even if you don’t have it, someone you know does. Even though most colleges don't enforce trigger warnings on the syllabus, they should start doing it to avoid situations like these.

To start off, people who have PTSD can have violent panic attacks at the mention of a trigger. For example, Richson states, "A great difficulty that goes along with PTSD is that it can surface at any given time following a traumatic event," (Richson, 514). This is definitely a difficult side effect of post-traumatic stress disorder, without a warning people would be sent into spiral of horrific memories. Having the advantage of knowing what will be taught in the class can avert potential triggers and save the person from resurfacing the most traumatic event of their lives.

Continuing on, the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder are incredibly harmful. According to Pinely Ridge Treatment Center, the physical side effects include, “Sleep disturbances, flashbacks, sleepwalking, and intense physical reactions when reminded of the trauma (e.g. nausea, muscle tension, profuse sweating, pounding heart, rapid breathing, etc.),” (“Symptoms & Side Effects of PTSD & Trauma.” Piney Ridge Treatment Center). The physical side effects are tremendondously dangerous for those who have this disorder, espeacially when triggers are brought up. Now, in my opinion the psychological symptoms are even worse, these can include, “Increased frequency of negative emotions, diminished positive emotions, low self-worth, feeling alone, extreme feelings of fear, worry, anger, and sadness, lack of trust in others, and feeling detached or emotionally numb,” (“Symptoms & Side Effects of PTSD & Trauma.” Piney Ridge Treatment Center). Having to deal with the psycholigcal effects day to day and then being triggered and forced to experience the physical effects when it could have been avoided is just too much for any person to handle. This is extremely bad for a person’s mental well-being/health. If trigger warnings were to be used in everyday life this could ward off the dreadful effects.

Additionally, the use of trigger warnings is vastly effective for those who happen to struggle with PTSD. For example, “University of California-Santa Barbara has passed a resolution that professors should indicate in syllabi when emotionally or physically stressful material would be presented in class,” (Richson, 514). Including trigger warnings has had such a big impact on the internet that even universities believed it was a successful way to resolve the situation. Considering that a very large and renowned university adopted this practice other colleges and universities will most likely follow in their footsteps. Hopefully with this new practice introduced into the world of education many students will feel safer knowing the possible triggers to come.

However, many others many disagree with my claim because anything can be a trigger. Those who disagree are correct, anything can be a trigger. Overton states, "Anything can be a trigger, from hot dogs to Nazis to Mike Tyson to the color yellow. The right smell, sound, word, or image can initiate a painful flashback for a particular person," (Overton, 518). Overton exaggerated examples of triggers, but he does have a good point, it’s not just words or topics learned in school. Even though triggers can be anything, I still strongly disagree with not implementing trigger warings, any warning given in advance can stop a major panic attack before it even starts. Including trigger warnings on syllabi is a great place to start helping people with PTSD, although we can’t protect them from every trigger at least we can try, instead of dismissing their triggers and starting a manic episode.

The benefits of including a trigger warning on syllabi is incredibly helpful and a great way to notify potential triggers to students who may have post-traumatic stress disorder. When looking at the physical and psychological effects of PTSD, people can see that this is very harmful for any one to deal with on a day to day basis. And, considering the fact that a large university, University of California-Santa Barba, has already adopted this practice means that other colleges and universities should follow. In the end, we can support students who have PTSD and assure their well-being by incorporating trigger warnings into syllabi and everyday life.