like there’s this whole thing in this book about how your brain grows stronger and healthier by practicing responding to stress in healthy ways,
because if a stressor is predictable and you feel a sense of control over it, you habituate and stop reacting to it,
but if it’s random and unpredictable you have the opposite response and become sensitized, so your reaction actually gets more and more extreme.
(if you hear a loud noise at predictable intervals you’ll soon stop noticing or reacting, but if you hear it at random intervals you’ll become sensitive to it and anxious.)
so one way to help people who have adverse reactions to reminders of trauma is to give them control over how they’re reminded of the trauma,
because it helps the brain practice responding to stress in a safe way so you can habituate to the stress response.
which is why if someone tags something for a trigger and you still choose to look,
it’s actually an act of healthy resistance against your reaction to that trigger (because it teaches your brain to habituate),
but encountering something triggering in a random and unpredictable way actually increases your stress response and makes you more sensitive to the trigger.
so people who are against trigger warnings because “you have to learn to cope” are actually taking away your tools for learning to cope,
because encountering stressors in a way that further strips you of control over your trauma is never, ever helpful.
it’s a lot of stuff i kind of knew but integrated and explained with more context and science
[spaces added and brief caps removed for accessibility]
Also why books about the tough stuff are extremely helpful. Fiction is our key to coping in the world.