Let’s talk bookish ➙ What do you do if a book triggers you?

Good morning!

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books and Dani @ Literary Lion. Where we discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts.

📚 SEPTEMBER 17: WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN A BOOK TRIGGERS YOU? (SUGGESTED BY JILLIAN @ JILLIAN THE BOOKISH BUTTERFLY)

Everyone has different reactions to triggers; what is yours? Do you have measures in place to help you avoid books that could potentially trigger you? If you get triggered without previously knowing there would be a trigger, do you still care to finish the book? Does it affect your eventual rating/review? Have you ever read a book knowing that something within it would trigger you?

As a general rule, I’m quite lucky to say I don’t really have anything too triggering when i’m reading. However, it’s another thing completely while i’m watching something; especially a TV show.

I don’t care about gore nor anything graphic.. but suicide scenes, I just can’t. Which is sad that so much TV shows use it as a “season finale cliff hangers” nowadays 🤦🏽‍♀️ Just for the sake of a grand plot-twist & eagerness for next season. The worst one of the bunch for me is cutting; I was watching a women prison’s show in french when it literally attacked me out of nowhere and the last episode had one of the character do it *on screen* — I was in a much worst place than I am currently, still in the peaks of my depression, and I was nearly shaking. It trouble me so much that I could almost feel it, I had the need to do so too and it took me quite a time to shrug it off.. but thanksfully nothing bad happened after that!

Staying in the same branch, I do love reading mental-health books where the MC is struggling, with suicide ideation and all.. but it doesn’t trigger me- it goes more into the way of “understanding comfort” from it. Like- it resonate to your core so much that you feel heard. Cherry on the top, I do crave thoses darker books when i’m in a dark headspace myself.

Being medicated for so long now & have an upped dose, I’m generally in a much better headspace on the longterm – I might get a down for a day or two, but it doesn’t linger as it did before. With that being said, it does happen that while i’m not triggered, I’m reading a book and I go like «Ouch. That is heavy/dark». I do recognize them, and perhaps it would be such a different story if I wouldn’t be so stable; like my old peak-of-depression self. The books that comes in mind are My heart and other black holes by Jasmine Warga aswell as the start of The midnight library from Matt Haig.

How do you cope with reading triggers?