#reclaimed language

Sources: Diary of River Song: The Furies, Diary of River Song: The Lady in the Lake, The Day of the Moon, Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #33, The Wedding of River Song, The Big Bang, The Angels Take Manhattan, The Many Lives of Doctor Who: Without a Paddle, The Time of the Doctor, Forest of the Dead, Let's Kill Hitler, Diary of River Song: The Wife of River Song, Eleventh Doctor Year Two: Physician Heal Thyself, A Good Man Goes to War, Eleventh Doctor Chronicles: Broken Hearts, The Husbands of River Song, Doctor Who Confidential: When Time Froze

I realised yesterday that the way I've been using the word "trigger" may be appropriating it slightly. When I've said it in the past I've generally meant feeling insecure, reminded of insecurities, something setting me off so that I get into a damaging mindset or thought patterns. I think it means something a lot more powerful for survivors - not just reminding them of past events, but transporting them back to the way they behaved in order to survive it. And that's a much bigger thing than what I mean, and I can't really claim to know what that's like. I think I'll start using synonyms like "activate" or "spark", or try and use phrases like "it put me into a damaging thought pattern". Trigger is a useful word in that you can use it in a very short way ("I was triggered"), but I don't think that justifies my using it in the way I have done and I worry I invalidate or minimise others by using it. Please accept my apologies if I've done this to any of you.