We here at You Are Not Alone. Love, Anonymous, are committed to being completely honest with you. It’s no secret that some of us have suffered or are currently struggling with abuse, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and eating disorders. Because these things are a part of our stories, we will not be silent about them. Rather, in our speaking, we hope to show those of you that struggle with these things that you are not alone, and show those of you that have not experienced them what it is like.
However, we also want to be sensitive to your experience with such things and do everything within our power to prevent any flashbacks or regressions. For that reason, we have chosen to use three tiers of trigger warnings to help you better prepare for the content of individual posts.
The first tier is the brief mention. If you see this warning appear at the top of one of the posts, it means that a potentially triggering topic only comes up as a side note, if that. It doesn’t dwell on it for any amount of time or delve into the feelings surrounding it in any depth. It, like the other trigger warnings, will appear at the very beginning of the post, and will be included in the excerpt of the post, which is what is shown on the list of recent posts. So long as the mention is not at the very beginning of the post, these excerpts will still include the first post or so to help you get a feel for whether or not you want to read it.
An example of this type of warning would look like this:
Trigger warning: This post contains a brief mention of depression and suicidal thoughts.
The second is the moderate discussion. This warning is used when a post talks about a potential trigger at some length. This often means something to the effect of a direct reference to the situation combined with at least a few paragraphs on how it has affected the writer, how it’s made them feel or how they’ve overcome it. Once again, if the discussion does not begin in the first paragraph of the post, the first paragraph will be included in the excerpt.
An example for this warning would look like this:
Trigger warning: This post contains a moderate discussion of emotional abuse.
The third type of warning is the extensive discussion. When you see this warning, it means the entire post is devoted to talking about one’s experience with a certain situation or condition. While this discussion will never be graphic, it may talk a lot about the specifics of the situation and the feelings associated with it, and will be the most potentially triggering. Only the trigger warning will be included in the excerpt, as the first paragraph would likely dive right into its topic.
A third-tier warning would look like this:
Trigger warning: This post contains an extensive discussion of anorexia.
I hope you all find these trigger warnings helpful. We use them not because we don’t want you to read posts related to your struggles, as we hope that you might use such posts to find the support and community you need to make it through your struggles. Rather, we use them to ensure your safety to the best of our ability. Whether that means you take the time to brace yourself for a post or simply choose not to read it is entirely up to you.
You are not alone in your struggles, dear friend. Never allow yourself to believe otherwise.
Love, Anonymous.
You Are Not Alone. 