1. Moral Injury Associated with Veterans
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Cassie Gillette
GRC MSW Program
Transgressive Acts
Acts that are inhumane, cause suffering, death, or pain or are cruel and/or violent (Frankfurt & Frazier, 2016)
Morals
Personal and shared rules of culture, family, legal, and societal relating to implicit or explicit social behavior (Litz et al., 2009)
Shame
A highly opposing negative emotion that arises as a result of a part of the person is considered corrupted by an irredeemable act (La Bash & Papa, 2013)
Abstract
Moral injury is a new term being introduced into the social work profession. The meaning has a historical context, connected to acts soldiers experience in combat that violate their moral beliefs. Studies show that moral injury may accompany post-traumatic stress disorder, and in recent studies it is found that moral injuries can develop in other areas that are not related to the context of war. Moral injury is of importance to a social workers in a variety of settings requiring the acquisition of knowledge and skills to effectively access and provide interventions.
Moral Injury
Keywords
Assessment and Treatment
Moral injury is similar to psychological trauma (Maguen & Litz, 2011)
It develops when a person witnesses or partake in transgressive acts that go against their moral code
Symptoms include shame and guilt and a loss of trust in self and others
There is the possibility that moral injury is the primary driver for post-traumatic stress disorder in regards to emotional and cognitive symptoms (Koenig et al., 2017)
It is important for Social Workers to be educated on moral injury and know how to identify and treat it
Moral Injury Questionnaire – Military Version: determines is someone was subjected to a traumatic experience and the severity of the current symptoms (Koenig et al., 2018)
Psychological Treatments:
Adaptive Disclosure Therapy – focuses on minimizing the stigma, reducing shame, and increasing natural supports (Koenig et al., 2017)
Impact of Killing in War – focuses on education regarding how killing causes moral injury (Maguen & Litz, 2011)
Prolonged Exposure – deals with repeated image and situational exposure that develops elimination and symptom reduction of conditioned fears (Paul et al., 2014)
Spiritually Oriented Cognitive Processing Therapy: individualized therapy promoting spirituality and religion (Koenig et al., 2017)
Future Research
The majority of research on moral injury thus far has been towards Veterans and the military (Fenton & Kelly, 2017). Moral injury may considerably impact the development of vulnerability of clients and practitioners (Haight et al., 2016). Future research can be done regarding social workers, clients, teachers, children, and rape victims.
*References available on a separate handout