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Re:Thinking with Adam GrantRe:Thinking with Adam Grant

Trigger warnings don't work!

RaQuel Hopkins is a therapist and HR professional whose hot takes on growth and well-being have challenged how many people talk and think about mental health. In this episode, Adam and RaQuel explore how some people use mental health labels as a crutch, discuss ways to expand our capacity instead of simply coping with emotional wounds, and address the problems with trigger warnings. They also debate what it takes to grow after trauma. The TED Audio Collective is a collection of podcasts for the curious. The TED Audio Collective videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organiz...). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com.

Adam GranthostRaQuel Hopkinsguest
Oct 14, 20250mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:00 – 0:30

    Meta-analysis: trigger warnings don’t reduce distress or improve learning

    1. AG

      There was a recent meta-analysis. It was 24 studies, about 7,000 people, showing that when you give an alert that upsetting content is coming, people don't feel less distress after they, they engage with the content, and they don't learn more from it either. And they actually feel more anxious because they've basically now felt the anxiety twice. There's the alarm beforehand, and [laughs] then there's the, the distressing content during. And so if we're trying to promote mental health, it seems that the best thing to do is to make support

  2. 0:30 – 0:35

    Why trigger warnings can increase anxiety: ‘double exposure’ to alarm

    1. AG

      available afterward, not to, you know, sound the, the alarm upfront.

  3. 0:35 – 0:41

    A mental-health alternative: provide support after difficult content

    1. RH

      Exactly, 'cause then you're creating alarms on both ends, especially when you're talking about a trigger warning, [laughs] right?

  4. 0:41 – 0:46

    Conversation dynamics: trigger warnings create alarms on both ends

    1. AG

      Yes.

    2. RH

      'Cause it happens on both ends when we're in conversation with, with, with other people.

  5. 0:46 – 0:47

    Closing reflection: reluctance to add unnecessary alarm

    1. AG

      Yeah. I, I don't wanna do that

Episode duration: 0:48

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