The overuse of the psychological term “triggered” is yet one
more example of a legitimate term being ruined by people who are trying to
overdramatize either their own discomfort, or the evil of persons they dislike. The idea of a trigger for PTSD symptoms is quite
real. People who have been near many explosions in a war zone may have
exaggerated startle reflexes to explosions or even very loud sounds when they
get to safe places, and this can persist for years. Others do not find their
nervous systems responding that way at all, even after repeated exposures. Responses
vary. People who were beaten or molested, especially as children, may
overreact, either in fight or in flight, to people shoving them or threatening
to them years later. Yet while no one
would find such memories pleasant, others are not so viscerally affected. Smells can be triggering, and actually
provoke flashbacks. Come to think of it,
“flashback” is another word that has been cheapened. It originally referred to more than just
being reminded of something and thinking about it. A flashback is an
involuntary reliving of a situation in which it seems real. While this PTSD
symptom can diminish in both frequency and intensity over time without
treatment, it sometimes requires training and effort to minimize its effect.
Music can quickly and effectively bring us back to a time or
an event. Usually the effect is mild and
pleasurable – or pain-pleasurable about nostalgia* or a lost love – but
sometimes it can be more intense and unpleasant.
Triggered was a
well-chosen term, conveying both the automaticity and the intensity of the
effect. When I encounter the term in modern usage is seems to be no more than a
synonym for “bothered,” or “reminds me of something I don’t like.” One cannot
be “triggered” by a MAGA hat. A claim to being triggered by a KuKluxKlan hood
would require exposure to an actual traumatic event, such as having a cross
burned on your lawn when you were little. Not common. Mere exposure to
something that one disagrees with is not a trauma, and it is a terrible
disservice to those who have actual trauma still circulating in their
brains. Not only does it dilute
compassion for those who deserve it more, it may actually make their lives
worse by expanding the situations which provoke the response. Imagine a young woman who has been seriously
sexually assaulted in high school and has flashbacks of the event in limited
situations, such as someone shoving her against a wall. To be surrounded in
college by those who frequently refer to less intense, perhaps even very minor
events as being rape-equivalent is to reduce her threshold for being reminded
of her serious event. Young and vulnerable people will sometimes even seek out
such pathological companions in the hope of finding those who will be
sympathetic and understand.
I actually do find an event that was ridiculed as a possible
trigger to be at least possible. Rapes
are described in Greek mythology and literature, especially in Pindar. There
was a college woman who claimed that reading about a rape in one of the “Odes”
(there are a few nominees) took her by surprise and triggered a flashback
memory of her own assault. I think when
people are criticizing Pindar and heroic Greek culture in general on this score
they are describing outrage, not triggering, and I resent that, for reasons
described above. It seems of a piece
with the pattern of overdramatisation I deplore. Yet I don’t rule out that a rape in
literature, in poetry, in music, in art could be triggering in a clinical sense. Art is powerful. That’s one of its purposes. It is supposed to
resonate with life events and not be separate from them. Most people consider classical literature
boring, yawn-worthy, not any possible grounds for serious identification. I wouldn’t be so sure. In artistic
expressions of “The Rape of the Sabine Women” those victims look horrified, and
it is hard not to feel pity and horror oneself, even while remembering that
this is only a painting or sculpture and is not an event that is currently happening
to real people. The girls at my high school got pretty involved in the
cinematic version of “Romeo and Juliet” when it came out. There are parts of Genesis and Exodus that
one winces to read. A person used to immersing herself in the story and poetry,
taken unawares, might indeed be triggered by Pindar. I know little of the story
and nothing of the young woman. I only
note that it’s possible.
*The number of songs which bring tears to my eyes grows
every year.
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