Trigger Warnings on Social Media Posts

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The use of trigger warnings has been controversial for almost a decade now, with many people still calling for their use, while many others point to the lack of evidence for their effectiveness, not to mention their potential to cause more harm than good.

Trigger Warnings in Social Media Posts

I was struck recently by the controversy that followed when a psychologist and author, Nicole LePera, aka “the holistic psychologist,” posted on Instagram about her decision not to use trigger warnings with her posts. While tens of thousands of her 7 million followers appeared to agree with her (by liking her post), many others disagreed.

The protestors mostly stated the usual reasons for the continued use of trigger warnings and/or content warnings (TWs/CWs), such as their assumed helpfulness in allowing viewers to avoid exposure to disturbing stimuli, or to be better prepared to manage their reactions to those stimuli if they chose to view them anyway.

The View of Most Mental Health Experts

An abundance of research evidence indicates that TWs are not effective in avoiding possibly disturbing content or reducing the level of anxiety experienced when viewing the content (Bellet et al., 2018; Jones et al., 2020; Bridgland et al., 2023). In light of this evidence, mental health clinicians and academics have been consistent in their disapproval of the use of these warnings.

As far back as 2015, Psychology Today authors have written posts about the risks involved with the use of TWs.

Not Exclusively Trauma Survivors

Apparently, the community of viewers of mental health-related social media sites isn’t getting the message. Following is a summary list of the points made by prior authors about the potential harm of the pervasive use of TWs to both survivors of trauma and the general public using social media.

The research cited involved both participants who were survivors of trauma and those who did not report any history of trauma, making the results relevant to the public in general.

Harmful Consequences of Trigger Warning

1. Trigger warnings tend to backfire. A warning not to view something can paradoxically cause people to become more curious and interested in the content. This is called the forbidden fruit effect, and it was evidenced in a recent meta-analysis. When given TWs, research participants with a history of trauma either showed no difference in their frequency of engagement or showed an increase in their engagement with the disturbing content (Bridgland et al., 2023).

2. Anticipatory anxiety increases when TWs are given. Study participants who were given TWs showed more anticipatory anxiety than those who were not shown TWs. They reported more nervousness, concern, and fearfulness before viewing the content than those who were not warned (Bellet et al., 2018).

3. The expectation of feeling distress leads to greater distress. The nocebo effect occurs when expectations of harm or poor outcomes result in worse outcomes than no expectations at all. Study participants who were shown trigger warnings had an increase in anticipatory anxiety but had no benefit from receiving the warnings (Bridgland, 2019).

4. Avoidance of stress or anxiety reinforces the anxiety. The basic purpose behind avoiding triggers is faulty since avoidance leads to further avoidance, and generally leads to ongoing high anxiety about a situation. Treatment of anxiety and PTSD symptoms involves identifying and managing triggers using the tools provided in therapy; its goal is not the avoidance of triggers (Badour et al., 2012).

5. Using TWs reinforces a mindset in trauma survivors that their trauma is a core part of their identity. Those survivors who view their past trauma as a core part of their identity tend to have worse symptoms than those who do not. A person whose identity is based upon being a victim of any kind is likely to see themselves as more vulnerable and less in control of their own life choices (Robinaugh & McNally, 2011; Jones, Bellet, & McNally, 2020).

6. TWs prevent emotional growth. It’s through facing and accepting fear, allowing it to pass, and knowing that it will end, that we gain resilience. We learn that our feelings of anxiety are tolerable and that they become more tolerable with practice. In contrast, trigger warnings can inadvertently undermine emotional resilience (Bellet et al., 2020).

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Final Thoughts

Each person might react differently to a trigger warning, depending upon their predisposition to feeling anxious, as well as their personal history of trauma, whether diagnosed or not. Each of these points indicates the possibility that trigger warnings do more harm than good.

Several of the studies showed no notable difference between participants who were warned and those who were not. It cannot be said definitively that TWs are harmful, but it is clear that they are not helpful and may be harmful.

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. Please remember that your difficulties do not define you. They simply strengthen your ability to overcome. —Maya Angelou