How to Tell People Your Triggers When They Are Oddly Specific?

[mvillarreal]

Hi, everyone. I have some past trauma that I deal with, but my triggers are really oddly specific. While the example I am going to use is not my actual set of triggers, the kind of triggers I have are along the same lines as, "Can you please not talk about gratitude or the solar system around me? I went through something traumatic, and these are triggering for me." Like how do I do that in a way that's not totally confusing and in a way that will not make people feel like they're walking on eggshells? Do I just have to deal with it and accept that I'll be triggered sometimes? It sucks because my triggers aren't typical ones like loud noises or seeing fire or anything like that.

[mrmonk]

I'm a firm believer than we who are mentally ill are responsible for learning to cope with our triggers.

For instance, I have emetophobia, but I have no right to ask people not to talk about vomiting, even if just hearing the word upsets me.

Of course, someone who is a close friend and well knows my mental illness would probably be more sensitive about it and try not to say or do something triggering, but, again, I have no right to expect that of them (except, perhaps, if the person is a spouse or partner).

Now, someone who is well-aware of your mental illness and says or does something deliberately and flagrantly triggering to you is being outright cruel, and such cruelty should never be countenanced.

[mvillarreal in reply to mrmonk]

Yeah, but at the very least, a warning would be nice. It's not just a phobia either; it's a post-traumatic stress trigger which doesn't just bring on anxiety or panic attacks, but emotional pain, flashbacks, "re-living," etc. I get that I can't stop people's language, but it would be nice if I could just have some warning beforehand. And by the way, there are a lot of trigger warnings for emetophobia. Like online posts, for instance, will often say: **TW: emetophobia**