Chronic Pain, PTSD and Moral Injury in Military Veterans: Suffering and the Compromised Self

Abstract

Veterans with chronic pain may face complex additional challenges, notably the potentially high rate of comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder. Linked to this is the developing concept of moral injury, essentially feelings of guilt and shame associated with transgressing one’s moral beliefs. Work has begun to explore moral injury in the context of psychological trauma, however it has not to date been considered in relation to chronic pain. As the moral injury concept is still developing, this paper explores what is known about the roles of guilt and shame in psychological trauma and chronic pain, and aims to set this in a military context, to begin to understand clinical implications and to make recommendations for further research. A search of the literature reveals that guilt and shame in psychological trauma and chronic pain are not well understood, and research has predominantly focused on these as consequences, rather than as potential contributory elements. Literature is currently separated, focusing either on PTSD or on chronic pain, and we suggest a more integrated approach is required.

Keywords:

• Chronic pain
• post-traumatic stress disorder
• moral injury
• guilt
• shame
• military
• veterans
• armed forces
• constructs of self
• suffering

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.