Abstract
Research on military mental health has recently begun to explore the construct of "moral injury," the mental health sequelae of real or perceived violations of deeply held values or beliefs. Moral injury may be a distinctive dimension of combatrelated posttraumatic stress disorder and related problems and is therefore critical to understand and attend to. This article considers moral injury from the perspective of psycho-spiritual development, with an emphasis on the interplay of cognitive, social, and faith group culture dimensions to contextualize the construct of moral injury within a theoretical framework. We present a case study to illustrate the utility of this psycho-spiritual framework to understand and treat moral injury. Implications for clinical interventions and suggested directions for future research conclude the article.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 256-266 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Spirituality in Clinical Practice |
| Volume | 2 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The contents of the publication/presentation do not represent the views of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government. This material is based on work supported (or supported in part) by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 American Psychological Association.
Keywords
- Development
- Moral injury
- Spirituality
- Veterans