Why is everyone 'triggered' these days?

[Mylifeisamesssuchamess]

Why does everyone seem to be 'triggered' these days? Surely being genuinely triggered would be rare and would usually happen if you've experienced severe trauma. Surely for most people it's just that they feel pissed off about something, scared or upset and it's not as extreme as being 'triggered'.

Yes but the point is that so many people inflate general feelings of unease or anxiety to being a full on medical condition. Some people genuinely have GAD but the vast majority of people don't and are just feeling a bit uneasy about a job interview, a new situation etc.

I agree.

I have PTSD. The word triggered being used just to mean "I'm offended," or "I'm a bit upset," is really weird and unfair actually.

I'm on a FB group where you have to put a trigger warning for literally everything. If you reply to a post, you have to put a TW listing the content. So the other day, someone posted asking about routes into social work. I'm a social worker so I responded, and I mentioned the words "children's" and "court" and was told I had 5 minutes to add "TW court, social services, children, cafcass," to my comment or it would be deleted! I didn't get go it in time so it was removed. I'm sorry but that is absolutely bonkers. I can understand a TW on the main post, but not every comment and not for every subject!

So yes, I'm with you.

This is very true. I think a lot of it is people worry that their issue or whatever is worrying them won't be taken seriously unless it's given a title, which is untrue and a I can only assume perhaps exacerbated by the me-centricness if social media.

Someone I know was cheerfully telling me the other day that they now have PTSD from their otherwise healthy toddler being unwell with a 24 hour vomiting bug. No hospitalisation required but the little one is rarely ill so understandably it was anxiety including for her.

I listed some symptoms and asked if she had any or had spoken to anyone/been diagnosed and was told "no, but I know I've got it". To be fair this person is a lovely but incredibly self involved individual so it perhaps shouldn't have been a surprise. But as someone who does suffer with it and wouldn't wish it on their worst enemy I found the casual way it's banded about kind of insulting.

It prevents normal discussion and encourages neuroticism.

Absolutely not a badge of honour but coping should 100% be the default norm and these days it seems it's not. I'd actually go so far as to say not coping is being seen as the badge is honour by some.

Okay, but your exact words were:

Nearly everyone feels anxious sometimes but far less people have the debilitating condition of anxiety.

Anxiety is not a debilitating condition. It is simply the noun form of anxious.

Everyone just wants you to know exactly how they are feeling all of the time. I preferred the times when other people kept their feelings to themselves, keep it bottled up people.

Because people have grown entitled to not having others disagree with them, they cannot cope with feeling uncomfortable. They have led lives that have catered to their every need, going along with everything they want, so they hit the big wide world and people don't go along with their way and it throws them.

People are conflating very normal feelings of feeling uncomfortable, anxious, on the back foot with something much bigger because they simply cannot cope or regulate these very normal things.

I would rather a world where people can have healthy discussions, not take everything so personally, and realise others are not responsible for their reactions to things. We don't all need to agree and have the same views, but as long as you're not being violent etc to others who differ from you then just let it go.

I am triggered by your post OP 😆

However.

You do not know me. You don’t know why I’m ‘triggered’. You’ve made a lot of assumptions which are baseless because your experience is the experience of n=1.

How about everyone take their judgement levels down a peg or two?

Remember that phrase, if you can be anything, be kind.

Most of the time I feel people are just trying to survive, possibly if they’re lucky, maybe thrive out there. We’re many of us, just trying our best.

Literally, I don’t care. I don’t care who is triggered or who is not or who uses the word or who doesn’t.

What id like more of is compassion, kindness and non-judgment. Any words that convey this, I’m open to them.

I learned the word when I was doing cbt/ exposure and response prevention therapy years ago. I have a type of ocd. If I encounter certain things that set the obsessive thoughts/ compulsive actions cycle into motion, that was described as a trigger. It means a very specific thing to me. I find if I ever talk about the ocd(rare but sometimes necessary), people hear words like “triggered” and are often dismissive. Even doctors sometimes. It doesn’t even sound right to me anymore, so I tend to avoid using it. Which is a shame because it’s very useful as a clinical term. People are more open about these kinds of problems these days, which is good. But at the same time lots of people just like using clinical terms out of context because it makes them feel important or because they are copying a trend and don’t understand what it really means.

I think me ‘being triggered’ is when something sets off flashbacks in particular of abuse suffered as a child/teen

Forgive me for not saying generalised anxiety disorder 😴

100% agree. I panic when I ask someone how they are and they say anything other than, "Fine, thanks."

What a judgmental post, how on earth would you actually know where someone is on the spectrum from unease to a full blown medical condition! You don't know, you just sound inpatient and dismissive.

I am old enough to remember when life was apparently simpler, say up to the 1990s but I think the appearance and now proliferation of the internet, once a joy, has provided people with an overload of information, (often useless), controversy, connection with and news about world events and other people that few can do anything about and an uncertain future precipitated and fuelled by a pandemic and the prospect of life and the world as we know it disintegrating entirely. Myriad distraction and myriad situations facilitating helplessness which breeds anxiety.

Who wouldn't be anxious?!! I think most people now are desperately anxious and don't know how to cope. Complaining about other people and announcing that 'you never get triggered' is more likely to be a coping mechanism than a genuine 'I'm so chilled and resilient' response. Ever heard of blanking?

How about a bit of tolerance, empathy, offering a solution or two or too busy being smug? Grr, what a thread, makes me furious. Apologies to the anxious, I hope you find some peace.

Are you genuinely saying you think the majority of people have GAD? It's not judgemental to be accurate that the vast majority of people don't have it.

You were literally responding to someone who asked:

Isn't anxiety what you feel when you're anxious?

And you responded, "No." But it is. Anxiety is not a mental illness, and accuracy is important, no matter how boring you may find it!

Precisely.

OP just sounds hacked off and dare I say it, triggered by some of the posts!

OP I recommend boxing, therapy or meditation to deal with your irritation at people using a word inappropriately (as deemed by you and you only).

I don't need boxing or meditation thanks. It's perfectly normal to be irritated by certain things and it's ok to say you're irritated by them.

34% of 18-24 year olds with a mental health condition in the U.K.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-26/uk-risks-lost-generation-with-young-in-mental-health-crisis

I forget the term for it, but sometimes when something specifically used by disabled people is found useful by the general population, it makes it more common and therefore indirectly benefits the people it was originally for. I genuinely have PTSD but I don’t actually want to announce my trauma left right and centre. If people being more “sensitive” means there’s more trigger warnings on things without me having to specifically ask for them, that makes the world at large a little easier for me.

Grrrrr!!

I can hear your growls from grrr over here OP!

No you don’t need to be irritated. But you do need to learn to find some compassion within your heart as to why people are using this word so commonly these days.

It’s not fun feeling anxious. Or triggered. An acceptance of that and commensurate kindness would be very welcome.

this!!! And not not just sexual assault. The world is a hard place and most people have suffered trauma of some sort in their life. I agree, the word ‘triggered’ is used pretty flippantly nowadays but I think people now (thankfully) have a better awareness of their feelings and indeed what might be a trigger for them. But OP your post comes across as dismissive and like it’s an annoyance that all these people in the world, myself included, note things that trigger them. Please lean towards kindness rather than annoyance

@Mylifeisamesssuchamess

Have you realised the irony of creating a thread about people using the word "triggered" incorrectly, and then getting annoyed that I pointed out you were using the word "anxiety" incorrectly?

I think everyone was "triggered" before, OP, but many of us just told ourselves to shut up and get on with it. There was no choice.

There's no irony. The two things are very difference. Triggered and irritation are two entirely different things. Sort of the point I was making in my first post.