The Trauma of Moral Injury: Beyond the Battlefield

Abstract

This article explores moral injury, a concept from military mental health professionals, which refers to the emotional effects on soldiers of actions taken as part of their military obligations that violate the dictates of their moral compass (Boudreau, 2011; Shay, 2011). This article will trace the history and current knowledge of moral injury and apply a social cognitive model of understanding the concept (Litz et al., 2009) to vignettes from the authors' civilian clinical practice, in the hope of raising awareness within clinical social work and other mental health professions of the complexities of moral injury. By brining the concept of moral injury into the mainstream social work arena, it is the authors' hope that clinicians will be able to distinguish it from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and understand the role of shame in the experience of moral injury in their own clients.

Keywords:

• moral injury
• post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• shame
• social cognitive theory
• trauma

Notes

1. Case examples have been extensively altered to protect the identity of the clients.