trigger

trigger warning

trigger – verb

trigger warning – sostantivo

triggered – aggettivo

triggering – aggettivo, sostantivo

The evidence on whether people actually avoid material based on trigger warnings is mixed.

Triggering is something that’s difficult to comprehend unless you’ve experienced it yourself. Works the student mentioned as particularly triggering include F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Junot Diaz’s This Is How You Lose Her and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway.

Il verbo to trigger, nell’accezione di ‘provocare, innescare, scatenare’ – si tratti di esplosioni, terremoti e valanghe o di ricordi e reazioni – è in uso da tempo. Di recente però è diventato abbastanza comune far precedere un programma, un film, un articolo o persino una lezione universitaria da un trigger warning, ovvero un’avvertenza per anticipare a spettatori, ascoltatori o lettori che i contenuti dei suddetti potrebbero scatenare, soprattutto nei soggetti toccati in prima persona da eventi traumatici quali violenze o aggressioni a sfondo sessuale, forti reazioni psicologiche. Le tematiche scatenanti sono descritte come triggering, i soggetti che ne risentono triggered e l’effetto come triggering. L’utilizzo dei trigger warning è assai dibattuto e ci si chiede se tali avvertenze siano effettivamente utili e necessarie o invece controproducenti.

Origini del termine

L’espressione trigger warning viene dal campo della psichiatria, in particolare dalle ricerche sul disturbo post traumatico da stress, che hanno evidenziato come l’esposizione a certe immagini o suoni possa portare le vittime a rivivere il trauma sofferto. Il concetto è stato esteso fino a includere materiale potenzialmente disturbante piuttosto che traumatico.

Traduzione di Loredana Riu

trigger – verb

trigger warning – noun

triggered – adj

triggering – adj, noun

The evidence on whether people actually avoid material based on trigger warnings is mixed.

Triggering is something that’s difficult to comprehend unless you’ve experienced it yourself. Works the student mentioned as particularly triggering include F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Junot Diaz’s This Is How You Lose Her and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway.

 

The verb to trigger has been around for a very long time, with a range of meanings relating to causing things to start happening; from explosions to avalanches and earthquakes, and from explosive devices to memories and reactions. This last area of meaning has expanded greatly in recent years. It has become common for TV programmes, films or even lectures and articles to be preceded by trigger warnings, alerting viewers, listeners and readers to the fact that the content may not just be upsetting; it may provoke strong reactions that could affect their mental health, particularly if they have experienced something traumatic that being is portrayed or discussed, such as violent or sexual assault. Such material is said to be triggering, and to cause those who have experienced it to be triggered, meaning to experience adverse psychological effects. The experience is referred to as triggering. Inevitably debate as has arisen as to whether such warnings are helpful, necessary, or even counter-productive.

 

Origin

 

The term trigger warning and the idea of being triggered come from psychiatry, and particularly the study of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, where it was found that certain sights or sounds could cause victims to re-experience the trauma they had suffered. The notion has been broadened to include many kinds of material that is potentially upsetting rather than traumatic.

WordWatch è l'osservatorio sui neologismi della lingua inglese curato dalla redazione del dizionario Ragazzini.

A cura di Liz Potter