Moral Injury and Beyond

Renos K. Papadopoulos, PhD., is professor in the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies and director of the Centre for Trauma, Asylum and Refugees at the University of Essex, UK, and professor at the Antiochian House of Studies, USA. He is a practicing clinical psychologist, family psychotherapist and Jungian psychoanalyst as well as a trainer and supervisor.

‘The concept of moral injury draws attention to the ways in which violence can not only wound body and mind but also attack our sense of meaning, coherence, solidarity, and belief in a just world. The thoughtful and heart-felt essays in this collection explore moral injury from diverse psychological, philosophical, social, spiritual and religious perspectives, enlarging our view of the impact of violence far beyond the common trope of trauma. Anyone concerned to address the human costs of violence will find much to deepen and enrich their understanding and response to some of the most challenging existential predicaments we face.’ - Laurence J. Kirmayer, MD, FRCPC, FCAHS, FRSC, James McGill Professor & Director, Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Canada‘This volume testifies eloquently to the urgent need for scholars and practitioners across disciplines to join forces and use all the resources at their disposal—from the medical to the theological—in a common quest to address the deeply complex and mounting reality of moral injury in the contemporary world. A timely collection on a pressing topic.’ - Dr Alexis Torrance, Department of Theology, University of Notre Dame, USA‘This stimulating compilation of different but complementary perspectives on a persistent aspect of the human condition sheds light on the full extent of damage and suffering experienced, individually and collectively, and reveals deeper understandings of harm and possible repair. The insights and applications are of interest in fields well beyond those of the contributors.’ - Professor John Packer,Neuberger-Jesin Professor of International Conflict Resolution; Director, Human Rights Research and Education Centre, University of Ottawa, USA

• Preface: Renos K Papadopoulos; Introduction: Renos K Papadopoulos; About the Contributors; Chapter 1: The Traumatising Discourse of Trauma and Moral Injury: Distress and Renewal by Renos K. Papadopoulos; Chapter 2: Moral Injury and Self-Empathy: Lessons from Sophocles’s Ajax by Nancy Sherman; Chapter 3: Moral Conscience, Moral Injury and Rituals of Recovery by Rita Nakashima Brock; Chapter 4: The Role of Religious Faith in Severe Trauma by Harold G. Koenig; Chapter 5: Killing the Human Being Within: Irenaeus and Moral Injury by Fr John Behr; Chapter 6: Just War and Moral Injury: Un-telling a Lie and Envisioning a Path to Healing by Robert Emmet Meagher; Chapter 7: What is Moral about Moral Injury? A Virtue Approach by Aristotle Papanikolaou; Chapter 8: The Psychic Counterpoise to Violence Towards the Human Other by Romano Màdera; Chapter 9: Moral Injury and Forgiveness: A Theological and Psychoanalytic Approach by Vasileios Thermos; Chapter 10: From Therapy to Impact: Expanding the Role of Non-Psychiatric Moral Injury Theorists in Direct Veteran Care by D. William Alexander