pathways
*Change to "how to find help" and use video from DAVLS with text below outlining "what to look for..."
In this site, we unpack the various types of moral injury - each with a distinct emotional tone (character, quality) - which, along with threat and traumatic loss, represent different pathways to traumatic stress injury.
Discuss "character wound" and mechanisms
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Betrayal and injustice involve both let down and attack (discrimination, marginalisation)
"The diversion into shame and guilt in many instances may serve
as a form of avoidance from the horror; an attempt to change history
which is ultimately unsuccessful but still serves to protect the self
from the annihilation that comes with the horror of the original traumatic
injury. Just as avoidance of threat triggers serves to reinforce fear, the review of shame and guilt prevents true exposure to the original
horror. Instead, it supports a world in which these events could
have, should have been prevented. Experiences of profound injustice,
overwhelming rage and righteous anger remain as attempts to restore
order and even undo the horror that was unleashed or perpetrated.
This quest for justice can, in its own way, prevent grieving and lead to
a locked-on horror response."
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Injustice: Victimhood seems the only way to find justice. Don't mean victimhood in a blaming way: demonstrating the harm/injury is evidence of the wrong. Focus on healing the feeling, not (or as well as) correcting the act (e.g. story: court action as empty win vs forgiveness as self-empowerment). healing through acceptance of powerlessness, relinquishing victimhood (letting them off the hook), and redeploying energy into empowerment (either through action or through acceptance). The real trick is that realising that one doesn't have to stay a victim to prove the wrong, one can be more effective in getting justice when one is empowered.
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Forgiveness as self-empowerment: etimology "give what went before" - not to the world (can't make the world unbad [reverse bad events]) but can give power back to oneself.
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Moral compromise: Being the agent of harm (e.g. train drivers, accident, or combat) has a visceral impact.
Mechanism of over-responsibility: taking responsibility for another's actions or feeling that one should have had more control than realistically possible. Avoiding powerlessness blocks recovery. Path to healing is through accepting powerlessness.