Five steps to help your morally injured client
" I don ' t know who I am any more . I just can ' t believe it was me doing all those terrible things .”
Gavin ' s life had been one of torment , betrayal and unremitting neglect . Abandoned by his drug-addicted parents , he ' d bounced like a pinball in and out of institutions , foster care , and prison .
But he had a core of decency despite having had little to no moral guidance growing up . His piercing eyes told me before his words did that " I know what ' s right and what ' s wrong ."
Moral injury happens when a person feels a moral line has been crossed or they ’ ve been forced to cross their own moral boundaries . This may cause them to question and doubt who they are and even the nature of reality itself .
He ' d straightened himself out because no one else had been around to do it for him . He ' d stopped ricocheting in and out of jail . He no longer drank or hung out with the ' friends ' who did their worst to beckon him through the sickly velvet doorways of drug-induced oblivion . He ' d even joined the army .
" I guess I needed structure ," he told me . " Kill him !"
Posted to Iraq , Gavin ' s outfit had been out in the baking desert at dusk during the First Gulf War , about to camp down for the night . With his superior , he ' d scouted the dunes for any signs of the enemy - and that ' s when they saw him .