Moral Injuries And PTSD: The Complexities Of

The Complexities of PTSD
The modern day term PTSD was originally used to describe a soldier who was adversely affected by war. (An example for this would be seeing so many people getting shot and then killed.) Over the course of time and studies, researchers found that the Holocaust, natural disasters, and man-made disasters could also lead to PTSD symptoms. PTSD has evolved into a more common diagnosis but still each person evaluated must meet the criteria needed to classify their illness as PTSD, but there is a very thin line between PTSD and moral injury. PTSD can affect many people and ages. Initially the term for PTSD was called “shellshock” and people thought that it was only a result of war, but through time and research it is known now that people suffering from PTSD could get effected by anything, whether it be rape, a natural disaster, combat, a …show more content…
Moral injury is how a person feels towards what they did during the war, something that went against their personal beliefs, whether it was avoiding wounded children to protect a convoy or having to make the decision to abandon their troops to protect the lives of many rather than the few. (I can see how PTSD and Moral injury are alike, but Moral Injury is more of what a person believes instead of like PTSD is more like a mental illness.) This could come back to haunt them later, whether a few days, or years. Many of those suffering from moral injury won’t talk about what happened or what choices they had to make to avoid being criticized or judged harshly. Most people will not talk about what happened because they might not know how to bring it up, how to talk about it, or they don’t want others to know about it. Those who have moral injury could experience guilt, shame, or anger over what they have done. (Farnsworth , Drescher , Nieuwsma, Walser, & Currier,