Healing the heart and soul of our nation's warriors: EMDR for moral injury

In recent years the concept of Moral Injury has morphed from its origins as a descriptor of the damage done to warrior's psyches after serving in a combat zone during forward operations, to be one embraced by civilians to replace traumatic stress. This presentation will define Moral Injury as a specific war wound and differentiate it from PTSD/Complex PTSD; discuss morality, ethics and right action in the context of Military culture; and demonstrate how to assess for, set up and conduct a Moral Injury repair session with a veteran using EMDR Therapy with specific cognitive interweaves. EMDR therapists must expand their understanding of war trauma to include relevant spiritual and existential questions, so that Moral Injury is seen as evidence of the highest level of moral conscience and not as a disorder, so as to stem the tide of veteran suicide, often a result of unrepaired Moral Injury.

Conference

English

Eva Usadi

Usadi, E. (2022, September). Healing the heart and soul of our nation's warriors: EMDR for moral injury. Presentation at the 27th EMDR International Association Virtual Conference