War and the Soul

Abstract

Chapter 1 explores in greater detail both the medical and phenomenological foundations of moral injury and its consequences upon the morally injured. It examines the clinical history that led to the recognition of the need for a diagnosis different than, though related to, posttraumatic stress disorder, and it zeroes in on moral injury’s relationship to killing in combat. It goes on to demonstrate the ubiquity of the belief, even among warfighters, that killing is morally evil—even if it is also morally necessary in war. Through again referencing clinical work, and introducing some of the key clinicians focusing on the moral injury construct, the paradoxical relationship between killing and moral injury is then linked to the suicide crisis afflicting combat veterans.