I say that I hate what the internet has done to the word triggered and people think it's because the word has been divorced from its original purpose to describe trauma and PTSD when what I really mean is that I hate that the internet has erased the fact the word triggered was and continues to used not just in mental health spaces but also in general medical spaces to refer to any symptom of ANYTHING that can be set off by outside factors.
Now you've got people with conditions like OCD, autism, ADHD, allergies, chronic pain, seizures, etc who are told by one group of people that triggers are a joke and an insult and then told by the "correct" and "good" people that triggers are exclusive to trauma and no one should use them if they aren't referring to actual PTSD flashbacks or massive panic attacks and now other ill and disabled people are missing a vital term to describe their experiences because they think they're not allowed to use it.
Like c'mon, in allergy spaces foods with allergens are literally referred to as trigger foods and you've still got "mental health activists" online insisting that you can only say you've been triggered by something if you have PTSD. That isn't advocacy for traumatized people, it's ableism that is stealing important language from EVERYONE.
ALSO triggers are not necessarily major or severe. You can be triggered and have it not ruin your entire day or week. In a lot of cases, you can learn coping methods to be able to experience a trigger and move on; obviously that's different with things like seizures or allergies, but many other triggers can be handled and only have minor impacts on someone.
I can work through most of my migraine and pain triggers, though I probably shouldn't. I have learned to breathe through my anxiety and OCD triggers. My delusions were triggered BAD last night and I am surviving, even if I kinda wish I wasn't.
Triggers can be major and severe, but many of them are just. Frustrating or a brief thing you take a moment to work through or even a mild inconvenience. Ideally, for mental health triggers, you WANT to turn them into a mild inconvenience and figure out management and coping methods to make that happen.
