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Introduction to the Special Issue on Moral Injury: Conceptual Challenges, Methodological Issues, and Clinical Applications
Author(s) -
Litz Brett T.,
Kerig Patricia K.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.22405
Subject(s) - construct (python library) , humanities , psychology , moral order , moral injury , psychoanalysis , sociology , philosophy , social psychology , social science , computer science , programming language
This article introduces a special issue of the Journal of Traumatic Stress devoted to new directions in the study of moral injury (MI), defined as transgressive harms and the outcomes of those experiences. Although a significant body of research has emerged devoted to the study of the MI construct, a number of conceptual and empirical challenges have arisen; these are summarized and discussed in the present article. In addition, this article proposes ways of overcoming these challenges in order to further research and clinical practice in the field. We then go on to introduce the content and themes of the present collection of articles in this special issue, all of which provide examples of some of the most innovative and forward‐looking work on the topic and expand into new conceptual frameworks, new methods of investigation, and new populations and contexts.