Let’s admit it: it’s pretty upsetting having to attend college. </sarcasm>
Students who claim they’re ‘traumatized’ by college should seriously see a shrink, prof says – The College Fix
At colleges across the country, some students – and especially students of color – increasingly say that their experiences on campus are “traumatizing.” The claim has almost become ubiquitous it’s used so often. But one professor of psychology says if these students are truly “traumatized” by their lessons, they require medical or professional help.
More:
Dr. Jordan Peterson, a research and clinical psychologist at the University of Toronto, said the word trauma should not be tossed around casually by students.
“If you’re that vulnerable, then you’re in no position to be exposing yourself to challenging dialogue,” Peterson said in an interview with The College Fix. “You’re not fit, in a psychological sense, for any complex activity. To be traumatized by a discussion you have to be teetering on the edge of intrapsychic disintegration.”
The term trauma has a clinical meaning attached to it, he said.
“Trauma has a technical nature,” Peterson said. “You can’t just say everything that upsets you is traumatizing.”
But students who do use the word should then either have their bluff called — or be taken at their word and told they need serious help, either from a medical doctor or a psychologist or psychiatrist, he said.