The Coddling of the American Mind

[GSOgymrat]

This is a really great article on the trend of making universities "safe spaces" from a psychological perspective. Like many ineffective coping mechanisms, in trying to avoid discomfort people often just create bigger problems. I appreciate the author took the time to explain how we got here and gave recommendations to improve the situation.  I admit I am biased because I am a cognitive behavioral therapist.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/

[SGOS]

Good article, as one might expect from the Atlantic Monthly.

[TomFoolery]

It's a good article. I think trigger warnings are a bit ridiculous. From what I gather, they started as a way to alleviate anxiety for sexual assault survivors and have just gotten out of hand. Now trigger warning debates revolve around "spiders, “fatphobia,” indigenous artifacts, images of childbirth, being told a favorite artist is probably gay, suicide in a ballet, images of dead bodies,  and bloody scenes in a horror film class." I guess I'm of the opinion that if even reading about a reference to sexual assault or any of the above listed things will cause a violent panic attack similar to PTSD, then you have problems with the world that extend far beyond a college classroom that probably need to be treated with meds and intense therapy, not treated by sanitizing literature and mentally bubble-wrapping the world around you.

Some have tried to compare trigger warnings in college to the same graphic content advisories that you get before some crime or medical TV shows, but I don't think it's the same thing. The TV watching audience is a lot broader than the college audience when you account for children. I don't think it's that insane to warn parents that an episode of Law & Order: SVU might have content that's disturbing to young viewers.