This week I was one of the presenters at a Victoria Police training day somewhere out west. My segment was introducing what VicPol Chaplaincy is all about and what support it provides from time to time to members. The following summarises what a Police Chaplain does:
“Police Chaplains are commissioned to be pastoral practitioners and psychological first aiders among people of various faith groups and with those who are on differing spiritual journeys; being present in their lives through personal character, integrity, compassion, values and example.”
The actual ministry covers such things as a pastoral presence of ‘active listening’; immediate pastoral care and support following a critical incident; caring supportive presence in times of grief; provision of Psychological First Aid; facilitated spiritual reflection’ for moral injury and general well-being; and relevant provision of pastoral engagement and ceremonies/ritual as requested by members.
When it came to question time, several members wanted to know what “moral injury” was – no one had heard of it before. They all had some understanding of trauma and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other things, but what was this “moral injury” thing? And so, we discussed it for a bit. Whereas PTSD can be caused by traumatic events involving experiences like near death or serious injury, for example, or sexual violence, shocking experiences of war, or being caught in the middle of a natural disaster – any terrifying, traumatising experience that leaves us anxious and fearful, long after the experience, so as to not be able to properly function – is PTSD. To a lesser or greater degree. Most of us have lived through at least one traumatic event and many others have experienced more than one such event. Trauma can also be chronic, meaning that similar events happen many times over a long period of time – and high levels of stress accumulate. Surviving soldiers from the two world wars were diagnosed with “shell shock” as a result of living with extreme levels of stress in war zones for months on end. Many never recovered from that trauma. PTSD is caused by immediate, or prolonged shock or terror that leaves its mark on us, and yes, it is a clinically diagnosable mental health condition.
Moral injury is different. It is not clinically diagnosed – but it is a thing. Its lasting emotional, psychological, social, behavioural and spiritual impact can be caused by involvement in some sort of tragedy where moral concern is beyond our moral control. It can also be the result of actions (unethical, or because of poor judgement etc.) or involvement in a situation that produces such symptoms as a persistent sense of guilt, shame, regret, remorse, regret, depression, self-loathing, apathy, contempt, cynicism, resentment and even anger. It’s a serious condition that just does not go away by itself, just like PTSD doesn’t – and it often requires professional help to resolve over the longer term. PTSD and moral injury can be co-morbid, too.
One psychiatrist describes moral injury as the ethical and psychological toll/price that comes with doing things that stop us from meeting our own eyes in the mirror, or laying our heads on the pillow at night. There is a price we continue to pay when we violate our most precious moral beliefs – whether that’s an intentional illegal thing, a momentary, out of character lapse of judgment that affects others, or something that occurred in the heat of the moment that, without the heat in that moment, we would never have done.
If you feel bad about something that happened at work or in an argument, and even if the impact of your words was completely unintended, but you feel responsible, you feel bad … that’s moral injury. And it sits in your chest unresolved until it is dealt with properly and, eventually, it affects your mental, emotional, physical – and spiritual – functioning. Some choose not to deal with moral injury, and try to bury it … but other moral injury is added to it and the accumulative affect over time is very significant.
The work of a Police Chaplain (in relation to moral injury) is to assist another to properly resolve the injury so as to be able to properly function again. This can take some time depending on the severity of the injury and other accumulated effects – and how long it has been buried …
Moral injury is not really about messing up your “moral compass” – everyone’s moral compass points and guides differently when there is no universal moral standard. But, I digress …
When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden they soon became aware of sin and its effect – moral injury from which there is no recovery, only death. Life, as they once knew it, was ended, and now they were experiencing shame and guilt for the first time. It must have been an horrendous experience having known nothing but holiness up to that point.
Christians, like anyone else, can also experience moral injury, which is the effects of sin in its many guises. Whether perpetrated on us, or when we have, ourselves, sinned against God and others. But God in His great mercy and love sent Jesus to become sin for us – so that it could be judged and crushed. On the cross Christ died for our sins, and guilt and shame were crucified, too. We are not banished from God’s presence as Adam and Eve were. We born-agains continue to sin – hopefully less and less as we grow in faith and spiritual maturity. Consequently, we suffer moral injury that causes guilt, shame and other dysfunctions in our being. None of these are not serious. They affect our salvation and our relationship with God. We need to deal with the sin AND the moral injury symptoms it causes so that we maintain our salvation and know intimate relationship with God – because this is life.
God is concerned about what sin does to us; not so much that it has been accounted for in His holy justification (and it absolutely has been on the cross!), but for those now forgiven and made righteous by the blood of Christ, God is now much more concerned about the moral injury sin causes us and which prevents our proper functioning in relationship with Him.
Sin is no small matter. Shame and guilt are still prevalent amongst Christians. Yes, the cross has atoned for our sins, but it does not shield us from moral injury like some spiritual Teflon coating, when we do sin. We people of God have the wisdom of God’s word which we need to regularly apply so as to resolve any moral injury (self-inflicted, or otherwise) in order to stay in good spiritual shape. This ensures our close relationship with the Father, and our proper functioning as redeemed human beings.
James 5:16 (NIV) “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
1 John 1:6-9 (NIV)
“If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Think on these things …
Ps Milton
[International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies; VicPol Chaplains Handbook; Super CRO; TRIBE; Jonathan Shay, in "Achilles and Odysseus Today: What Homer Can Tell Us About Military Leadership."; and other file notes]