Recovering lost goodness: Shame, guilt, and self-empathy.

Abstract

In this paper, I explore self-empathy as a component in the healing of moral injury in war. I have written recently on this subject, in The Untold War, and in particular, on how soldiers experience guilt as a response to good and bad moral luck, such as surviving buddies or causing their deaths by accident (Sherman, 2010). This kind of guilt is obviously not restricted to war, but war provides an important and timely context for studying it. Imposing guilt on oneself, I argue, is a way of taking responsibility, even if one overimposes it. It can be morally fitting and admirable, even when not justified or warranted. In some cases, it is a way of defending against a harder-to-uncover feeling of shame. Understanding better the notion of moral recovery is urgent. By some counts, the number of suicides in the U.S. military during recent years has exceeded that of deaths due to combat. The issue deserves public attention and an exploration of psychological and philosophical concepts that may be part of reversing the trend.