The invisible problem? Improving students’ mental health

of how higher education affects wellbeing in the years after
graduation.
What we should not encourage
Globally, HEIs are increasingly being called to remove
course content and provide alternative facilities in order to
prevent ‘triggering’ situations. 83 Triggers, also known as
‘microagressions’, are words, places, ideas, images and anything
else that could cause discomfort or offence. For example,
students at Rutgers University have asked to have F. Scott
Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby removed from the curriculum as
it portrays misogyny and physical abuse. 84 Similarly, in 2014
a group of Law students at Harvard asked professors not to
teach rape law, or even to use the word violate in case it caused
distress. 85 While these examples are from American universities,
it is a phenomenon that is spreading. 86
Prior notice of sensitive subjects during teaching are in some
cases justified when vulnerable students may benefit from
being exposed to triggering content at their own pace. But
making adjustments to the whole student cohort will mean
students become over-protected and may struggle to cope
when entering the world beyond higher education.
Moreover, granting many of these requests goes against the
basic principles of psychology. Treatment for anxiety consists
primarily in encouraging exposure to anxiety-provoking
situations. Avoiding them reinforces the anxiety. A book by four
psychologists and psychiatrists, Cognitive behavioural processes
50 The invisible problem? Improving students’ mental health