PTSD vs Moral Injury

Many military veterans, such as myself, do not like the term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We have certainly had traumatic stress. But we are not a disorder. One term receiving more attention recently is "moral injury." It suggests that one has been injured, because of what they did or witnessed. The stress can have a moral response, rather than rendering the person a "disorder." You could google the term moral injury and find a book about it, as well as things that I and others have written.

I appreciate that you shared about this newer term, Shepherd. I hadn't heard of it, and I've been working in the field of healing childhood abuse for 30 years, so PTSD is a pretty common symptom, or dissociative coping mechanism. I decided to do some research, and what I've read so far about moral injury seems different than PTSD though with some overlapping. I didn't read whether moral injury includes abreactive episodes. Do you know?

https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/co-occurring/moral_injury_at_war.asp

Are moral injury and PTSD the same?

More research is needed to answer this question. At present, although the constructs of PTSD and moral injury overlap, each has unique components that make them separable consequences of war and other traumatic contexts.

• PTSD is a mental disorder that requires a diagnosis. Moral injury is a dimensional problem - there is no threshold for the presence of moral injury, rather, at a given point in time, a Veteran may have none, or mild to extreme manifestations.
• Transgression is not necessary for PTSD to develop nor does the PTSD diagnosis sufficiently capture moral injury (shame, self-handicapping, guilt, etc.).

Consequently, it is important to assess mental health symptoms and moral injury as separate manifestations of war trauma to form a comprehensive clinical picture, and provide the most relevant treatment.

And this source says, "Moral injury is damage to the soul of the individual. War is one of, but not the only thing that can cause this damage. Abuse, rape, and violence cause the same type of damage. “Soul repair” and “soul wound” are terms already in use by researchers and institutions in the United States who are exploring moral injury and paths to recovery." https://moralinjuryproject.syr.edu/about-moral-injury/

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Posted in reply to the post by Shepherd:

Many military veterans, such as myself, do not like the term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We have certainly had traumatic stress. But we are not a disorder. One term receiving more attention recently is "moral injury." It suggests that one has been injured, because of what they did or witnessed. The stress can have a moral response, rather than rendering the person a "disorder." You could google the term moral injury and find a book about it, as well as things that I and others have written.

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