Moral Injury in the Military

Abstract

Moral injury has become a common term used to describe the complex symptoms experienced when there is a violation of one’s moral code. While the term is new, the concept of moral injury has been prevalent in human society since ancient times and conceivably since the beginning of humankind. It can be traced back to the Greco-Roman era when warriors shared intimate stories of their moral challenges on the battlefield. Moral injury has been extensively researched within the military population to describe the soul wound some service members carry because of war. It should not be confused with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the well-known mental health condition associated with veterans, however they can comorbidly exist with overlapping symptoms which therefore often makes it difficult to distinguish. What makes moral injury different from PTSD is that in many occurrences, it is the individual who commits a moral offense (versus mortal danger to self or others), and consequently must deal with aftermath of failing to be the moral (good) person they believed they were. Moral injury is important to understand conceptually and recognize clinically as it has been found to be closely associated with increased risk of suicide in service members and veterans.