Many people don't seem to know that the oft used by the right (& sometimes the left, too) insult, 'triggered' actually hurts survivors of abuse and war. The original & correct use of this word is within the context of PTSD.

A trigger is anything which reminds someone of their trauma & may set off a PTSD symptom like flashbacks or a panic attack. It could be words, a place, a smell.. Anything, really.

It can also be used in the case of other mental and physical illnesses, such as eating disorders & pain causing conditons. (ie, something triggered my pain or my condition)

I used to frequent & then later I ran survivors of abuse groups, where we would use this word both to talk about our experiences & to warn other members of potential triggers in a thread as a safeguard & courtesy.

Seeing this twisting of the word breaks something deep in me. It now being used to mock & invalidate makes me realise empathy is dying out.

Although you may not realise it when you casually use the word triggered to insult someone, this co-opting of an important word like triggered has huge effects across the ptsd community.

It's terribly undermining & it stops people being heard and helped when they need it. It makes us feel you believe us to be weak & sensitive or easily upset, in the way you use the word to insult.

It used to be if I told people I was triggered they would understand that that meant flashbacks or a panic attack or some other ptsd reaction. I could get help as a result.

Now if I were to say that I was triggered, that's not what people would hear at all...

You have boxed us out of our own healing process. Our own coping mechanisms. Our support networks.

You have made the word we use to describe truly horrific & frightening trauma reactions shameful and embarrassing to use. A mockery of our experience & our pain.

Like it wasn't hard enough anyway! Like life isn't a painful slog and opinions towards us not harsh enough already! Like those with ptsd don't already get treated like we're 'crazy' and worth nothing. Like we're weak and pathetic.

Thank god I'm past the point of truly severe ptsd reactions, just milder emotional triggers are left now. Cos I don't know how I would cope with all this. I feel sick watching people use this word so flippantly & insultingly & having absolutely no care who they hurt.

There is NOTHING funny about triggers, they have real impact on people's lives. On survivors of truly horrific things. So I'd ask you.. Next time you want to use this word, please stop and consider all of those you might hurt & choose another word instead! Choose compassion!