Addressing moral injury in clinical practice

This book is a testament to the growing number of researchers and clinicians who are studying and developing interventions targeting the prevention and treatment of moral injury. It informs and guides mental health clinicians, chaplains, and other helping professionals about relative conceptual issues in moral injury and promising therapeutic approaches to possibly incorporate in their work with morally injured patients who seek their care. The book is organized to flow from more conceptual concerns related to treating moral injury to specific intervention models that have been subject to some scientific inquiry to date.

Accordingly, the first two chapters describe prominent possible conceptual frameworks for understanding moral injury that could inform the clinician's process of selecting and delivering treatment methods. Next, the book addresses religious and spiritual and forgiveness issues in moral injury followed by a possible framework for case conceptualization with value for clinicians working from different theoretical models and discussion of unavoidable issues facing clinicians who desire to care for morally injured persons. In turn, the "meat" of this book entails discussions of emerging evidence-based interventions for treating moral injury, five of which are based in a cognitive behavior therapy framework and two spiritually integrated approaches with potential benefit for military service members and veterans with certain cultural values and beliefs. Lastly, the authors attempt to synthesize the authors' insights and offer ideas for advancing scientific and clinical work in the concluding chapter.