This is the glossary for the Trigger Warning Database. We recommend familiarising yourself with the terms and language we use before browsing the site.
Feel free to contact us with any questions or queries at triggerwarningbookdatabase(at)gmail(dot)com.
Key
Discussed • The trigger is not depicted on the page but is talked about deeply, for prolonged scenes, throughout the novel, or with explicit detail.
Graphic • The trigger is depicted on the page in an extended scene or with particular attention to detail.
Mentioned • The trigger is talked about in a brief sentence or two with no to little detail.
On-page • Similar to the term ‘on screen’, this trigger is depicted explicitly within the plot and story.
Off-page • Similar to the term ‘off screen’, this trigger occurs within the narrative of the story but it is not depicted explicitly on the page or described. It may be talked about in detail (noted as ‘off-page, discussed’) but it will not be depicted on the page.
Recounted • The trigger occurred prior to the events depicted in the storyline or in a character’s past.
Theme • The trigger is unavoidably discussed, mentioned, and depicted to various degrees throughout the entire novel or storyline.
Definitions
Aa:
Abandonment • The act of a person deserting their relative with the intention of relinquishing their right and responsibilities to them; often specified as parental or spousal abandonment.
Ableism • The oppression and discrimination against people with disabilities. Please note, the term ‘disability’ is used in its broadest sense for the purpose of this site to include mental illness, chronic illness, and various forms of neurodivergence which may not be considered ‘disabilities’ in all circumstances.
Abortion • The process used to remove an embryo or fetus from a uterus in order to end a pregnancy. It is often synonymous for the variety of medical procedures which terminate pregnancy.
Abuse • Any action that causes harm or injury to a person intentionally. Most instances in the database will be specified with type of abuse and victim, e.g. ‘physical child abuse’ or ’emotional domestic abuse’. Types of abuse include:
- Emotional abuse : the extreme use of controlling behaviours to undermine a person’s feelings of self-worth and independence. This can include rejection, isolation, gaslighting, and financial abuse.
- Physical abuse : the invasion of a person’s physical space, including various violent acts such as hitting, kicking, and physical restraint.
- Psychological abuse : the destruction of someone’s mental wellbeing through a repeated pattern of actions and words, such as creating fear and making threats. May involve making the victim doubt their sanity.
- Sexual abuse : a subset of physical and emotional abuse involving forced sexual acts, like rape and sexual assault, as well as the exploitation of someone’s cultural and personal attitudes towards sex to cause psychological trauma.
- Verbal abuse : the act of shaming through name-calling, put-down behaviour, and humiliation to attack a person’s sense of self.
Abusive relationship • A pattern of behaviours used by one person to maintain power and control over another person in an intimate relationship.
Acid attacks • The act of throwing a corrosive substance, usually acid, onto the body of another person with the intention to disfigure, maim, torture, or kill. Also known as vitriolage.
Addiction • The neurophysiological disorder characterised by persistent and intense urges to engage in certain behaviours.
Adoption • The social, cultural, and legal process of a child being raised in a non-biological family.
Adult-minor relationships • Any romantic, sexual, or queerplatonic relationship between an individual under the age of eighteen (the ‘minor’) and an adult. Please note that for consistency, eighteen years of age will be the standardised measurement for considering a character as an adult or minor regardless of the context of the situation portrayed.
Adultery • Extramarital sex or a sexual and/or romantic partnership that is objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. The database usually prefers to terms ‘cheating’ and ‘infidelity’.
Ageism • The stereotyping and discrimination against groups of people based on their age.
Agoraphobia • The anxiety disorder characterised by the fear and avoidance of places and situations which might cause feelings of panic, entrapment, helplessness, or embarrassment.
Alcohol abuse • The misuse of alcoholic beverages which may lead to dependence.
Alcohol consumption • The consumption of any form of alcoholic beverage
Alcoholism • The chronic disease which is mostly characterised by uncontrolled drinking behaviours due to physical and emotional dependence on alcohol.
Alzheimer’s Disease • A type of dementia mostly characterised by memory deterioration and progressive impairments in thinking and behaviour.
Amnesia, memory loss • The inability to remember events, facts, and information for a period of time, often due to a brain injury, illness, or drug use.
Anaphylaxis • A severe and life-threatening allergic reaction to an antigen to which the body has become hypersensitive.
Animal attack • A violent, often fatal attack caused by an animal against a human.
Animal abuse, cruelty, torture • The act of inflicting physical pain or suffering to an animal beyond necessity for normal discipline; including neglect, such as the withholding of food and water, or putting an animal in imminent danger of death.
Animal death • The loss of an animal’s life, including the death of a pet or service animal.
Animal illness and injury • Any disease or injury which impairs the normal state of an animal or modifies its vital functions.
Animal testing, experimentation • The use of animals in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect a behaviour or biological system under study.
Anorexia, anorexia nervosa • The eating disorder characterised by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, and an overpowering desire to be thin.
Antisemitism • The oppression and discrimination against Jewish people.
Antisziganism • The oppression and discrimination against Romani people.
Anxiety • The mental illness characterised by intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear.
Arranged marriage • A marital union where the bride and groom (or other combination) are chosen by individuals other than the couple itself, such as their families or a matchmaker. These arrangements can be voluntary or involuntary.
Aromisia • The oppression and discrimination against people on the aromantic spectrum.
Asphxia • Breathing impairments that occur when there is insufficient oxygen or excess carbon dioxide in the body, resulting in unconsciousness and often death, such as strangulation, suffocation, and drowning.
Asthma • The long-term chronic condition characterised by symptoms of coughing, wheezing, and chest tightness due to the narrowing, inflammation, and tightening of muscles in the lungs and air passages.
Audism • The oppression and discrimination against D/deaf people.
Avalance • The natural disaster characterised by a mass of snow, ice, and/or rocks falling rapidly down a mountainside.
Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (AFRID) • The eating disorder in which people eat only within an extremely narrow repertoire of foods or restrict food intake by volume.
Bb:
Banishment • The act of being sent away from a country or place as punishment.
Beating • A type of physical assault in which a victim is hit repeatedly.
Beheading • The deliberate act, usually as a means of murder or execution, in which a person’s head is completely severed from their body by an axe, sword, guillotine, or similarinstrument.
Bestiality • Sexual activity, actual or simulated, between a human and non-human animal.
Bigamy • The act of entering into a marriage with one person while legally married to another.
Bimisia • The oppression and discrimination against bisexual and pansexual people.
Binge Eating Disorder • An eating disorder characterised by frequent and recurrent binge eating episodes with associated negative psychological and social problems but without the compensatory behaviours common to other eating disorders.
Biological warfare • The use of biological toxins or infectious agents, such as bacteria or viruses, with the intent to kill, harm, or incapacitate humans, animals, or plants as an act of war.
Bipolar Disorder • The mental illness characterised by alternating periods of mania and depression.
Blackmail • The act of demanding payment or other benefit from someone in return for not revealing compromising or damaging information about them.
Blizzard • A severe snowstorm with high winds.
Blood and gore depiction • Bloodshed. More colloquially, any ‘messy’ violent scenes where wounds, body parts, and bodily fluids are depicted.
Boating accidents • A collision, accident, or casualty involving a vessel in or upon the water, including capsizing, collision with another vessel or object, and sinking.
Body horror • The graphic destruction and degeneration of the human body; grotesque and psychologically disturbing violations of the human body.
Body modifications • The deliberate, permanent altering of the human physical appearance for reasons such as ritual, aesthetic, or corporal punishment. May be voluntary or involuntary. Examples include piercing, tattooing, and ritual scarification.
Body shaming • The act of humiliating an individual by making mocking or critical comments about their body shape or size.
Borderline Personality Disorder • The personality disorder characterised by a long-term pattern of unstable interpersonal relationships, a distorted sense of self, and strong emotional reactions.
Branding • The process by which a mark is burned into the skin of a person with the intention that the resulting scar makes it permanent. It may occur as a form of voluntary body modification, under coercion as a punishment, or an identifying mark on enslaved or oppressed people.
Building collapse • The sudden structural failing, partially or entirely, of a building which often threatens human life and health.
Bulimia • The eating disorder characterised by binge eating followed by purging or fasting, and excessive concern with body shape and weight.
Bullying • Repeated and habitual behaviours that use force, coercion, and hurtful teasing to abuse, aggressively dominate, and intimidate an individual.
Burns • An injury to the skin primarily caused by heat, radiation, electricity, friction, or contact with chemicals.
Bushfire • An unplanned, uncontrolled, and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation in a rural or urban area. May also by known as a wildfire, grass fire, or forest fire depending on the type of vegetation present.
Cc:
Cancer • An injury to the skin primarily caused by heat, radiation, electricity, friction, or contact with chemicals.
Cannibalism • The act or practice of humans eating the flesh or internal organs of other human beings.
Captivity, confinement • The condition of being confined to a particular space and prevented from leaving or moving freely.
Car accident • The act of a vehicle colliding with another vehicle, pedestrian, or obstruction often resulting in injury, death, and property damage.
Catfishing • The act of using a fictional persona or fake identity on a social networking service to target a specific victim or victim type; often for financial gain or to compromise and upset a victim in some way.
Cheating • The violation of a relationship’s emotional and sexual exclusivity.
Chemical warfare • A type of warfare involving the use of the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons; separate from nuclear, radiological or biological warfare.
Child abuse • The physical, sexual, verbal, emotional, and psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child especially by a parent or caregiver
Child pornography • Pornography or the production of pornography that exploits children for sexual stimulation with or without the direct involvement or sexual assault of a child.
Child sexual abuse • The form of child abuse that involves an adult using a child for sexual stimulation through engaging the child in sexual activities, indecent exposure, grooming, and child sexual exploitation.
Child sexual violence • Any acts of sexual violence against a minor, including rape and sexual assault. Often written in the database as ‘sexual assault of a minor’. Please not that for consistency, eighteen years of age will be the standardised measurement for considering a character as an adult or minor regardless of the context of the situation portrayed. See also Paedophilia & grooming.
Childbirth • The ending of a pregnancy by a baby or babies exiting the internal environment of the pregnant person via the vagina or through a caesarean delivery.
Chronic illness • A health condition or disease that is persistent or otherwise long-lasting in its effects.
Chronic pain • The classification of a type of pain that last longer than three months or is distinct from acute pain by the time since its onset.
Classism • The depiction of prejudice and discrimination on the basis of social class or the grouping of people in regard to their wealth, income, education, and occupation.
Colourism • The prejudice and discrimination in which people who share similar ethnic traits or a perceived race are treated differently based on the social implications that come with the cultural meanings attached to skin colour.
Coma • A deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond to normally painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle, and does not initiate voluntary actions.
Coming out • Short for ‘coming out of the closest’. The metaphor used to describe a queer person’s self-disclosure of their sexual and romantic orientation or gender identity.
Concentration camp • The imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or due to the belief they are enemy citizens in wartime.
Conscription • The state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, usually a military service.
Conversion therapy • The pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity and expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms in contrast to evidence-based medicine and clinical practices.
Coronavirus, COVID-19 • A contagious disease caused by a virus known as SARS-CoV-2, first identified in China in 2019, which quickly developed into the COVID-19 pandemic.
Corrective rape, curative rape • The hate crime in which one or more people are raped because of their perceived sexual orientation or gender with the intention of ‘turning’ the person heterosexual.
Crucifixion • The method of capital punishment in which a victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation.
Cults • A social group defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal.
Cyberbullying • A form of bullying and harassment using electronic means on the internet and other digital spaces.
Cyclone • A rapidly rotating storm system characterised by a low-pressure centre, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls.
Dd:
Date rape • The act of rape in which some form of romantic or potentially sexual relationship exists between the victim and rapist.
Dead bodies • The depiction of a dead human body; may also be known as a cadaver or corpse.
Deadnaming • The act of referring to a transgender or nonbinary person by a name they used prior to transition; may be unintentional or a deliberate attempt to deny, mock or invalidate a person’s gender identity.
Death from exposure • The death of a human from the individual losing their stability and ending up in a lower position, often on the ground.
Death of a child • The death of a minor. Please note that for consistency, eighteen years of age will be the standardised measurement for considering a character as an adult or minor regardless of the context of the situation portrayed.
Death of a cousin • The death of a character’s cousin.
Death of a friend • The death of a character’s friend.
Death of a grandparent • The death of a character’s grandparent. May be specified as ‘death of a grandmother’ or ‘death of a grandfather’.
Death of a nephew & niece • The death of a character’s nephew or niece.
Death of a parent, guardian • The death of a character’s parent or guardian. May be specified as ‘death of a mother’ or ‘death of a father’.
Death of a partner, spouse • The death of a character’s partner or spouse. May be specified as ‘death of a wife’, ‘death of a husband’, or ‘death of a boy- or girlfriend’.
Death of a sibling • The death of a character’s sibling. May be specified as ‘death of a brother’ or ‘death of a sister’.
Decapitation • The total separation of a person’s head from their body, usually as the result of a beheading.
Delusion • A false fixed belief that is not amendable to change in light of conflicting evidence.
Dementia • A disorder that manifests as a set of related symptoms involving progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behaviour which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease.
Depersonalisation • A detachment within the self, regarding one’s own mind or body, in which an individual feels that they have changed and that the world has become vague, dreamlike, less real, lacking in significance, or being outside reality while looking in.
Depersonalisation/Derealisation Disorder • A dissociative disorder in which a person has persistent or recurrent feelings of depersonalisation or derealisation.
Deportation • The expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country usually through national or international law.
Depression • A mental and behavioural disorder defined by the core symptom of anhedonia but which otherwise affects a person’s thoughts, motivations, feelings, and sense of wellbeing.
Derealisation • A dissociate symptom, often appearing in moments of severe stress, in which there is an alteration in an individual’s perception of the external world, causing them to perceive it as unreal, distant, distorted, or falsified, or lacking in spontaneity, emotional colouring, and depth.
Dieting • The practice of eating food in a regulated way to decrease, maintain, or increase body weight, or to prevent and treat diseases such as diabetes.
Disfigurmisia • A type of ableism that involves the specific erasure of and prejudice against disfigured or visibly different people.
Disappearance • The reference to a ‘missing person’ or a person whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown.
Dismemberment • The act of cutting, ripping, tearing, pulling, wrenching or otherwise disconnecting the limbs from a living or dead human being; often connected to capital punishment, traumatic accident, or murder.
Disordered eating, disordered food, weight & body thoughts • A variety of abnormal eating behaviours that, by themselves, do not warrant a diagnosis of an eating disorder but often involve ignoring physical feelings of hunger, abuse of diet pills, emotional or compulsive eating, binge eating, self-induced vomiting, or chronic restrained eating.
Disownment • The act of a parent renouncing their child as a family member, usually due to reprehensible actions leading to serious emotional consequences, which may include disinheritance, familial exile, and shunning.
Displacement • The involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home as a result of persecution, conflict, generalised violence, or human rights violations.
Dissociation • A wide array of experiences, ranging from mild emotional detachment to a more severe disconnection from physical and emotional experiences, which is distinct from the loss of reality experienced in psychosis.
Divorce • The dissolution of marriage or the processes of terminating a marital union.
Domestic abuse, violence • Any form of physical, verbal, emotional, economic, sexual, or psychological abuse and violence that occurs in a domestic setting which involves one person in an intimate relationship against the other person.
Doxing, doxxing • The act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organisation via the internet, which is usually obtained through criminal or otherwise fraudulent means such as hacking and social engineering.
Drought • The natural disaster characterised by moisture deficiency relative to the average water availability at a given location and season.
Drowning • The type of suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid.
Drug abuse • The use of a drug in amounts or by methods that are harmful to the individual.
Drug use • The consumption of a chemical substance that causes a change in an organism’s physiology or psychology, usually for recreational or medicinal purposes.
Drugging • The act of administering a drug non-consensually in order to induce stupor or insensibility.
Dubious consent scenario • Any sexual situation in which there is no clear distinction between consensual and non-consensual actions.
Dysphoria (gender) • The profound state of unease, distress, discomfort, and unhappiness due to your assigned sex.
Dysmorphia • The symptom commonly associated with eating disorders characterised by altered, obsessive perceptions that one’s own body is severely flawed.
Ee:
Earthquakes • The natural disaster characterised by the shaking of the surface of the Earth creating seismic waves.
Eating disorder • A variety of mental disorders characterised by eating behaviours that negatively affect a person’s physical and mental health.
Electrocution • The injuring or killing someone by electric shock; may be accidental or a form of execution.
Emesis • The involuntary, forceful expulsion of the contents of one’s stomach through the mouth (and sometimes the nose). Also known as vomiting and throwing up.
Epidemic • The rapid spread of a disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time.
Epilepsy • The neurological disorder characterised by epileptic seizures.
Estrangement • The social alienation and isolation from friends, family, or wider society. Familial estrangement specifically refers to the loss of a previously existing relationship between family members through physical and emotional distancing, often to the extent of no communication between the individuals for a prolonged period.
Eugenics • A set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population; historically used in an attempt to alter human gene pools through selective breeding by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior and, therefore, often associated with scientific and medical racism.
Exercise addiction • The mental disorder characterised by a compulsive engagement in any form of physical exercise, which may involve a state of dependence, despite negative consequences.
Exile • The penal expulsion, expatriation, or prolonged absence from one’s homeland under compulsions of circumstance.
Eye trauma, loss of vision • Any physical or chemical injuries to the eye. The loss of functional visual acuity in the eye(s).
Ff:
Factitious Disorder, Factitious Disorder by Proxy • The psychological condition in which a person, without a malingering motive, acts as if they have an illness by deliberately producing, feigning, or exaggerating symptoms, purely to attain a patient’s role for themselves someone in their care.
False imprisonment • The act of an individual intentionally restricting another individual’s movement without legal authority, justification, or the restrained person’s permission.
Fatmisia • The social stigma of fatness and obesity; a bias and discriminatory behaviour against individuals because of their weight.
Fire • The rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of combustion which releases heat and light and produces flames.
Flaying • A method of slow and painful torture and execution in which skin is removed from the body.
Flogging • The beating of the human body with an implement such as a whip or rod, often imposed on an unwilling subject as a punishment.
Floods • The natural disaster characterised by the overflow of water that submerges land that is usually dry or the accumulation of rainwater on saturated ground.
Food shaming • The judging, criticizing, or commentary about the quality or quantity of food a person chooses to consume.
Forced marriage • A marital union where at least one individual was married without freely and fully consenting due to coercion, threats, or deception.
Foster care • Any experience involving a minor who has been placed into a ward, group home, or private home of a state-certified caregiver or with a family member approved of by the state.
Gg:
Gambling • The act of wagering something of value on a random event with the intention of winning something else of value where instances of strategy are discounted.
Gambling addiction • The mental disorder characterised by repetitive gambling behaviour despite harm and negative consequences.
Gang rape • The rape of a single victim by two or more perpetrators. May also be known as ‘party rape’ and may be part of genocidal rape or ethnic cleansing campaigns.
Garrotting • The act of using a handheld ligature of chain, rope, scarf, wire, or line to strangle a person.
Genital mutilation • The usually involuntary permanent altering of the genitalia, such as circumcision, castration, or clitoridectomy.
Genocidal rape • A form of wartime sexual violence in which a group carries out acts of mass rape and gang rape against its enemies usually as a part of a genocidal campaign.
Genocide • The intentional destruction of a whole or partial ethnic, national, racial, or religious group.
Grief and loss • The response to the loss of someone who has died with whom a bond or affection was formed.
Grooming • The befriending and establishing of an emotional connection with a minor to lower the child’s inhibitions with the objective of sexual abuse or to lure them into sex slavery, sex work, or the production of child pornography.
Groping • A type of sexual assault. The act of intentionally touching another person in a sexual manner without their consent.
Gun violence • Any form of violence or threat of violence committed with the use of a firearm.
Hh:
Hallucinations • A vivid, substantial perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the qualities of real perception and is perceived to be located in the external objective space.
Hanging • The suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck, usually to cause unconsciousness and death.
Hate crimes • A prejudice-based and bias-motivated crime in which a perpetrator targets a victim because of their real or perceived membership of a certain social group or race.
Hazing • Any initiation rites or activity expected of someone joining or participating in a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses, or endangers them regardless of a person’s willingness to participate.
Heart attack • A myocardial infarction. It occurs when blood flow decreases to or stops the coronary artery of the heart and is largely characterised by chest pain.
Heart disease • The class of cardiovascular diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels.
Home invasion • A type of burglary in which an offender unlawfully enters a building or residence.
Homelessness • The state of being unhoused or unsheltered; the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing.
Homomisia • The oppression and discrimination against gay people.
Hospitalisation • The act of being admitted to the care of a hospital or similar healthcare facility to receive medical treatment.
Hostage situation • The act of an abductor seizing an individual in order to compel another party to act or refrain from acting in a certain way, often under threat of serious physical harm or death to the hostages after expiration of an ultimatum.
Human sacrifice • The act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual to please or appease gods, religious leaders, or human rulers.
Human trafficking • The trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery or commercial sexual exploitation.
Hunting • The human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing animals for harvesting food and resources, recreation, pest removal, or ecological conservation
Hurricane • A rapidly rotating storm system characterised by a low-pressure centre, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls.
Ii:
Indentured servitude • A form of labour in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years; usually entered into for eventual compensation, debt repayment, or imposed as a judicial punishment.
Imprisonment • The restraint of a person’s liberty in the form of incarceration.
Incest • Sexual activity between family members or close relatives, usually those related by blood.
Infertility • The inability of a person to reproduce by natural means.
Institutionalisation • The process of committing an individual or group to a mental or welfare facility.
Internment camp • The imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or due to the belief they are enemy citizens in wartime.
Intimate partner abuse, violence • Any domestic violence by a current or former spouse or partner in an intimate relationship against the other partner.
Intrusive thoughts • An unwelcome, involuntary thought, image, or unpleasant idea that may become an obsession, is upsetting or distressing, and can feel difficult to manage or eliminate.
Involuntary adoption • The act of adopting a child into another family without the biological parent’s consent.
Involuntary conversion • The adoption of a different religion or the adoption of irreligion under duress.
Involuntary pregnancy • The practice of forcing a person to become or remain pregnant against their will, often as part of a forced marriage or slavery.
Islamomisia • The oppression and discrimination against Muslim people.
Kk:
Kidnapping • The act of unlawfully confining a person against their will.
Klu Klux Klan • The American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist hate group that advocates extremist reactionary positions.
Knife, sword, axe violence • The act of using a tool or weapon of similar nature to a knife, sword or axe, in order to injure, threaten, or kill an individual.
Ll:
Labour camps • A detention facility, also known as a work camp, where inmates are forced to engage in penal labour as a form of punishment.
Landslide • The natural disaster characterised by several forms of mass wasting that may include rockfalls, slope failures, and mudflows.
Lesbomisia • The oppression and discrimination against lesbians.
Lightning • Any naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during thunderstorms.
Limnic eruption • A natural disaster characterised by the sudden eruption of a carbon dioxide gas cloud from deep lake waters, which can cause a tsunami.
Loss of autonomy • The inability of a person to perform voluntary tasks, usually due to a fantastical or fictional form of control like alien technology or demonic and ghostly possession.
Lynching • An informal public execution by a mob to punish an alleged or convicted transgressor or intimidate a particular social group.
Mm:
Maritime disaster • An event involving commercial or military naval ships where there is substantial loss of life, pollution of the marine environment, or economic loss at a grand scale.
Massacres, mass murder • The killing of a large number of people, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no means of defence.
Medical experimentation • Clinical trials of prospective biomedical or behavioural research studies on human participants, voluntarily or involuntarily.
Medical treatment, procedures • Various processes performed on an individual with the object of improving health, treating disease or injury, or making a medical diagnosis.
Mental illness • A psychiatric disorder characterised by a behavioural or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning.
Military service, deployment • An individual or group working or volunteering in the army, air force, or navy.
Mind control • The human mind being altered or controlled by fictitious techniques, such as alien technology and demonic or ghostly possession.
Miscarriage • A loss of pregnancy by the death of an embryo or fetus before it is able to survive independently.
Misgendering • The act of labelling others with a gender or gendered terms that do not match their gender identity. Clarification of accidental or purposeful misgendering may be provided.
Misogyny • The oppression and discrimination of women.
Motorcycle accident • A traffic collision involving a motorcycle or electric bicycle and another vehicle, pedestrian or obstruction usually resulting in injury, death, and property damage.
Mugging • The act of attacking and robbing an individual in a public place.
Murder, attempted murder • The killing or attempted killing of an individual.
Munchausen Syndrome • The condition in which a person, without a malingering motive, acts as if they have an illness by deliberately producing, feigning, or exaggerating symptoms, purely to attain a patient’s role for themselves or someone in their care.
Munchausen Syndrome • The condition in which a person, without a malingering motive, acts as if they have an illness by deliberately producing, feigning, or exaggerating symptoms, purely to attain a patient’s role for themselves or someone in their care. Also known as Factitious Disorder.
Mutilation • The act of cutting off or causing injury to a body part of a person so that part of the body is permanently damaged, detached, or disfigured.
Nn:
Natural disaster • A natural hazard, such as an earthquake or wildfire, which causes significant harm to an affected community.
Necrophilia • The sexual attraction towards or a sexual act involving corpses.
Needles • The medical tools which hand-operate with a plunger to inject substances into or extract fluids out of the body.
Neglect • The form of abuse where an individual responsible for caring for someone fails to do so, usually through the failure to provide sufficient supervision, nourishment, or medical care as the result of carelessness, indifference, or unwillingness.
Night terrors • A sleep disorder characterised by feelings of panic or dread typically occurring in the first hour of NREM sleep.
Nightmares • Any unpleasant dreams that cause strong emotional responses from the mind like fear, despair, anxiety, or great sadness.
Nuclear disaster • A radiation event that has led to significant consequences for people and the environment.
Nuclear warfare • Military conflict or prepared political strategy that includes the deployment of nuclear weaponry.
Oo:
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) • The mental and behavioural disorder characterised by intrusive thoughts and the compulsion to perform certain routines repeatedly to the extent where it induces distress or impairs general function.
Organised crime • A category of transnational or local groupings of highly centralised enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, mostly for profit.
Outing • The act of disclosing a queer person’s sexual orientation or gender identity without that person’s consent.
Overdose • The ingesting or application of a drug in quantities much greater than are recommended, usually resulting in health issues, a toxic state, or death.
Pp:
Paedophilia • The act of child sexual abuse or the sexual assault or rape of a minor by an adult. Please that while the definition of paedophilia may technically correlate to the abuse of prepubescent children, it is used as an umbrella term on this site to encompass all forms of sexual abuse and sexual violence committed against minors. Therefore, for consistency, eighteen years of age will be the standardised measurement for considering a character as an adult or minor, regardless of the context of the situation portrayed.
Pandemic • An epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region affecting a substantial number of individuals.
Panic attacks • Periods of sudden intense fear and discomfort that may include heart palpitations, chest pain, trembling, dizziness, or a feeling of impending doom or losing control.
Paraplegia • The impairment of motor and sensory function of the lower limbs, often caused by spinal cord injuries.
Persecution for witchcraft • The depiction of the harsh treatment or discrimination of those believed to practice witchcraft.
Phobias • Various anxiety disorders characterised by persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation.
Physical assault • The act of inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person.
Physical illness • A particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of the human body that is not due to an external injury.
Physical injury • Any physiological damage to the human body caused by immediate physical stress such as blunt trauma, burning, toxic exposure, or overexertion.
Plague • An epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region affecting a substantial number of individuals.
Plane crash • An accident that causes an aircraft to sustain significant damage, structural failure or otherwise interferes with the safety and operation of the aircraft.
Poisoning • The exposure to any harmful substance that can be swallowed, inhaled, injected, or absorbed through the skin.
Police brutality, violence • The excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or group, including improper ‘takedowns’ and the misuse of firearms and tasers.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) • The mental and behavioural disorder developed due to exposure to trauma, characterised by mental and physical distress, avoidance, changes to thinking, and hyperarousal.
Poverty • The state of having few material possessions or little income.
Pregnancy • The gestation of an offspring in a womb which usually ends in a live birth.
Psychiatric hospitalisation • The hospitalisation of patients in facilities and wards specialising in the temporary or permanent containment of patients who need treatment for severe mental disorders.
Psychosis • The abnormal condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and not real.
Qq:
Quadriplegia • Paralysis caused by illness or injury that results in the partial or total loss of use of all four limbs and torso.
Queermisia • The oppression and discrimination against queer people.
Rr:
Racism • The oppression and discrimination against people of colour.
Rape • Sexual assault involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration of an individual without their consent, usually due to physical force or coercion.
Rape by coercion • A situation in which a perpetrator deceives the victim into participating in a sexual act.
Recreational drug use • The use of a legal or illegal drug with the primary intention of altering a person’s state of consciousness.
Refugee experiences • The experiences of displaced individuals who have crossed national borders and are unable or unwilling to return home to a well-founded fear of persecution.
Regicide • The purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign, often associated with the usurpation of power.
Religious persecution • The oppression, mistreatment, prejudice, and discrimination against individuals or groups based on their religion or belief or their lack thereof.
Revenge pornography • The distribution of sexually explicit images or videos of individuals without their consent.
Riots • A form of civil disorder characterised by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance in reaction to a grievance or out of dissent.
Ss:
Sandstorm • A meteorological phenomenon where strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry area, creating a dust storm.
Scalping • The act of cutting or tearing a part of the human scalp with hair attached from the head.
Scars • An area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury due to the biological process of wound repair.
Schizophrenia • A mental disorder characterised by relapsing episodes of psychosis, hallucinations, delusions, and disorganised thinking.
School shooting • An attack on an educational institution involving the use of firearms.
Seizures • A medical event, known as an epileptic seizure, characterised by abnormally excessive neuronal activity in the brain, uncontrolled shaking, and loss of consciousness.
Self-harm, self-injury • A deliberate injury to oneself without suicidal intent, typically as a manifestation of a psychological disorder.
Self-immolation • The act of sacrifice of an individual by setting oneself on fire and burning to death, usually for political or religious reasons, as an act of protest, or martyrdom.
Trigger Warning Database 