Caution – this warning may stress you out! Trigger warnings are meant to help you avoid or prepare for encountering disturbing content. But those warnings actually heighten distress rather. The warnings appear to heighten the anxiety you feel before viewing sensitive material while making you no less likely to consume that content. Comparing the results of 12 studies, researchers found warnings increased anticipatory anxiety, meaning participants who read content warnings were more anxious prior to viewing potentially triggering material than those who did not. Also, warnings do not increase avoidance as participants viewed troubling content at about the same rate regardless of whether or not they received a trigger warning. It was theorised this could be due to a “forbidden fruit” effect, with content warnings making unpleasant material more tempting to viewers!
