OPINION: We need an official trigger warning policy for class content

The material taught in any college course can contain triggering or just disturbing content. Whether you are in a psychology class discussing mental disorders or a film studies class watching a movie with characters struggling in any capacity, it’s important that professors realize class material can trigger students and induce effects like anxiety, PTSD or worsened mental health overall. Therefore, trigger warnings need to be adopted into course curriculums and descriptions to ensure students’ mental health is not accidentally negatively impacted.

I’ve had countless conversations with friends and fellow classmates throughout college about how upsetting or even triggering class content can be. For example, I remember being in one of my lower level Spanish courses and watching a short film about a woman who was having a pretty intense existential crisis and wondering why we were watching such heavy content for a homework assignment. 

I’ve also heard many students talk about how they’ll purposefully avoid watching or reading a lot of their class material in efforts to keep their mental health more stable. This is especially true for majors like social work, psychology, sociology or others that involve an abundance of discussion surrounding serious societal issues. However, the need for trigger warnings applies to every major as I, a communication media and Spanish double major, have also experienced being upset or disturbed by class content in a wide range of classes. 

There are certainly some professors who make an effort to provide trigger warnings for their students in order to protect their mental health, but the fact that there is no requirement or official policy makes this issue an urgent one to say the least. With our University student population sitting at 37,556 and reportedly 73% of all college students experiencing some sort of mental health crisis during college, it’s clear trigger warnings have become increasingly necessary. 

For students who are experiencing mental health issues, whatever they may be, disturbing or depressing class material is the furthest thing from what they need to be consuming mentally. 

Even for students who aren’t actively experiencing issues with their mental health, it’s important to note that class content can still be quite upsetting. I know I’ve left class still thinking about some rather disturbing material that may not have ruined my day or caused me prolonged anxiety, but still affected my mood significantly enough to have appreciated a trigger warning. Especially as someone who cares a lot about mental health but does not like to discuss it in extensive detail, I think trigger warnings would be beneficial for all students. 

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, a trigger warning is defined to be a statement cautioning that content (as in a text, video or class) may be disturbing or upsetting. That being said, it would be a rather simple task for professors to provide trigger warnings within class content. This could be done in the syllabus, in class powerpoints, really any way possible that can reach students.

Not only would this help avoid worsening students’ mental health by giving them the warning to mentally prepare to watch or read the content, but also give them the option to not do so if necessary.

I will never forget my introduction to psychology professor from freshman year at NC State telling us in advance the following week’s content would contain disturbing photos and explanations of distressing disorders, so if we were to use our free absences at any time, we should do so then if we think it would be too much to handle. I greatly appreciated this as someone who finds many mental health issues difficult to talk or hear about, simply because I find them upsetting and sometimes scary.

For students similar to me or students unfortunately experiencing mental health issues, trigger warnings should be implemented into all class material to try to hopefully improve students’ overall mental health, not worsen it.