Moral Injury
Moral injury is a wound to the soul: the deep, lasting distress of having done, witnessed, or failed to prevent something that violates your deepest values. It is not the same as PTSD, and it doesn't always look like trauma — it can look like shame, self-condemnation, alienation, and a grief for the person you believed yourself to be. It is carried most heavily by those who serve in impossible situations. There is a growing community of people who understand, and there is a path forward.
National Resource
The Soul Repair Center at Brite Divinity School — A center devoted to research and education on moral injury — the deep wound of having done, witnessed, or failed to prevent acts that violate one's values — with resources for veterans, chaplains, and clinicians.
Recommended Reading
Soul Repair: Recovering from Moral Injury After War by Rita Nakashima Brock and Gabriella Lettini — The foundational book on moral injury, written by the researchers who helped name this distinct form of grief — and the first to explore how veterans recover from it.
Grief & Support
Give an Hour — A national network of volunteer mental health professionals offering free counseling to veterans and their families, including providers trained in moral injury.