^ Trigger - Astraea

<p>Sep 29, 2014 02:26 PM</p>

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http://astraeasweb.net/plural/glossary.html#median<--- Links within this note section found by clicking link to Astraea's original source)</p>

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Trigger - A sensory input or event which causes an instant and unavoidable reaction because of something with which it has been deeply associated in the past. Triggers can be associated with good as well as bad memories (the most famous example is probably the writer Marcel Proust describing the taste of madeleine cake with limeflower tea triggering his memories of wonderful early childhood experiences with a kind aunt).</p>

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"Trigger" became a common term in studies on post-traumatic stress disorder (delayed stress or Vietnam Veterans' Syndrome). Following the publication of Sybil in 1972, both professionals and the general public started associating being multiple with having PTSD. In fact psychiatrists assumed all multiples had PTSD -- even that multiplicity itself was a symptom of PTSD. Words such as trigger, flashback, etc., common to the language of PTSD support, were widely used by therapists in the 1980s and 1990s, and thus by multiples in therapy who frequented computer bulletin boards and the Internet. Thus, any time material was discussed online that might upset someone somewhere, it became netiquette to insert a "trigger warning" or "spoiler warning". The word acquired an extremely broad definition online, to the point that any negative emotion was characterised as "being triggered".</p>

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The issue of "trigger warnings" for potentially upsetting material can best be compared to the "viewer discretion" disclosures on television -- some people appreciate having them, while others feel they're unnecessary or even insulting. (Psychiatric)</p>