Health Disorders Triggering in Classrooms

[Opinion by Charlie Lailacona]

Freedom is a generally accepting and understanding community, from most of what I’ve seen and heard - and as a freshman, it’s good to know that the school I’ve just entered won’t push me down a rabbit hole of depression and anxiety.

However, there’s been a few... incidents.

For starters, the freshman class have completed a health unit about nutrition. On the first day of the new unit, every student was suddenly introduced to a worksheet formatted like a scoreboard.

Let’s focus first on some of the questions: I stay within 10 pounds of my ideal weight; I am aware of the calories I eat; and, the opposite, I am aware of the dangers of dieting for young adults.

Does anyone see the issue here? Perhaps not...let’s look at the purpose of this worksheet. As students go through the questions, they build up points, and at the end, they rate themselves on how good they are at eating.

Not only are the questions extremely personal, the worksheet then asks the student to score themself, and if they get a low score, it tells them “your dead” (with the wrong “you’re”, might I add).

For people like myself, who may have insecurities or struggles surrounding eating, this worksheet - and some of the material in this unit - can be extremely triggering. A trigger is a thing or situation that can cause a person to panic or have another “adverse emotional reaction” (NAMI.org). A good example of this is another one of the assignments for this unit: a threeday food journal.

Tracking what is being consumed can not only be stressful - for some, it can become a habit, or even an obsession. Counting the calories and nutrition facts can also become habitual, and cause issues with a healthy view on eating later on. I do honestly believe that the assignment curriculum should be changed to something less personal.

Now, let’s address another common issue: a comeback - “kill yourself.” We shouldn’t be saying this phrase at all - even if it’s being said to a close friend. No one can ever know everything about someone - human lives are just too complicated. I personally have had this line used on me twice, and it has made me angry and confused. Why would my friend want me to kill myself?

Suicide is a serious issue. Think about it for a minute - am I wishing that that person was dead? Even if everyone else is using these words, they can still hurt someone in inexplicable ways. They might be struggling with something that no one knows about. I don’t want to be the one to start a thought path that says, hey, maybe I should do that. Everyone’s lives are so intrinsically connected that it’s impossible not to affect someone, even if it’s not expected to have such negative repercussions.

For the third and final incident, a clip that had been played for freshman history classes about the Phalanx battle formation. Trigger warnings for the clip were given for some classes, but not others. A student from a preAP world history class mentions that a brief preface was given to the clip played; on the flip side, in a geography and world history honors class, there was no warning at all - it was simply “we’ll show this clip, it’s a good representation of the formation.”

The clip showed a man being pierced by a spear at the very startresulting in his death - and then an intense battle between the two sides, where many soldiers died - I could barely look at the screen.

For those who might say, “Oh, but Charlie, most people haven’t been in wars, etc, etc” - must I reiterate that no one human knows everything about another? A classmate sitting nearby right now might have lived in a conflicted area for a while before moving to the United States. Isn’t it also sort of gruesome to watch someone be pierced through the heart by a pointy projectile? To add to this argument, the rating on the movie the clip is from, 300, states that it is rated Rmeaning, technically, anyone under seventeen has to be accompanied by an adult and be prepared to watch the movie. The clip can stay - but the trigger warnings have to come with it.

These are just a few examples of triggering incidents that have already occurred at our school - but others may have had more.

Here’s a guide on how to construct a trigger warning: b ) When writing these words into the trigger warning, do NOT censor parts of the word, change the letters to symbols or numbers, or transform said words into things like “sewerslide”. Those with reading disabilities or who might not be able to read English as well could have difficulty deciphering what these words might mean. c ) Give some space or time for the viewer to click off or look away - don’t just go hey! Trigger warning! and not give the person some time to process. Shoving the triggering content in their face is not going to be helpful. (for example, put a large gap between the trigger warning and the rest of the post or page; wait a few seconds with the warning on the screen and then off of it before the video continues).

1 ) The start of a trigger warning can either be TW (“trigger warning”) or CW (“content warning”). After “CW” or “TW”, can either be a colon ( : ) or two forward slashes ( // ).

2 ) Include any possibly sensitive topic - some examples include food; disordered eating; slurs or strong insults; self-harm; suicide; any kind of discrimination (homophobia, transphobia, racism, misogyny etc); sexual content; violence or death; body image, dysphoria, or weight; scarring; loud noise (whether sudden or constant); cursing; writing in all capitals; etc.