Are Trigger Warnings Effective?
⚠️ Trigger Warning: Today’s Preacher Boys Podcast episode discusses the efficacy of trigger warnings. Reader discretion STRONGLY advised ⚠️
In all seriousness, I’ve learned so much from the content Joe Nucci (@joenuccitherapy) has put out, and I appreciate that he challenges how we use, misuse, and overuse different terms and phrases when discussing mental health topics.
I’ve been personally questioning the efficacy of trigger warnings in the way that they are commonly used on social media for a little while now, and a major anecdotal reason is that I’ve felt it tends to subconsciously inform viewers and listeners how to feel emotionally about content rather than inform them about the content.
I say this as someone who used to implement TW quite a bit with almost every post, and - to this day - has a blanket trigger warning on the majority of my episodes.
I had to get Joe’s take as a psychotherapist who knows a bit of the data beyond my personal experience, and his response made a ton of sense to me!
For context, the above clip comes from the 33:31 mark of today’s episode.
Of course, that’s not all we talked about on today’s episode, we also talked about…
01:10 - the characters of Sex & The City through the lens of a psychotherapist… (Is Carrie a bigger narcissist than Mr. Big?)
09:30 - how social media commonly misuses psychology phrases – specifically surrounding trauma.
17:35 - why megachurch pastor John MacArthur said PTSD, ADHD, and OCD aren’t real
24:55 - the relationship between diagnosis & identity
43:20 - answers to listener questions and why Joe won’t give his opinion on Dr. Melfi from The Sopranos.
I learned a lot from this conversation and I know you will too. I’d love to hear what landed for you - be sure to drop a comment on YouTube or on this article to let me know!
And… just because I’m curious…