The Digitization of Soul Wounds
on adding moral injury to our vocabulary and building digital resilience
1 Quote
“Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion.” —bell hooks, All About Love
1 Reflection
The constant barrage of devastating news.
The persistent outrage, confusion, and grief of individuals, families, and communities.
The doom-scrolling until you realize it and close one app only to repeat it on another one.
The calls to action and education and ways to support.
Are we bleeding out? And is it happening in a way that we can't even visibly see?
In my Counseling Psychology graduate program, I am currently research moral injury. Moral injury, as defined by the Department of Defense (the idea of moral injury originated from observing and providing care to military service members and veterans), is the soul wound that happens to a person after an"act of transgression, which shatters moral and ethical expectations that are rooted in religious or spiritual beliefs, or culture-based, organizational, and group-based rules about fairness, the value of life, and so forth…First, there must be a betrayal of what is morally correct. Second, someone who is in a legitimate position of authority must do the betrayal of what is morally correct. Third, the betrayal must occur in a high stakes situation.”
Guilt, shame, disgust and anger are some of the hallmark reactions of moral injury. A person who has perpetrated, failed to prevent, or witnessed a morally injurious event may feel like they did something bad or should have done more to prevent the event. They may feel a sense of loss in self-worth, or anger as a response to feeling betrayed. There also might be an inability to self-forgive and engagement in self-sabotaging behaviors.
There is no quick fix for moral injury. But in our current age where breaking news is so readily accessible and available, building digital resilience may be a crucial skill to preserve our mental health, emotional stability, and perhaps the very state of our souls. Subscribe and read on for a few keys that may be helpful in building digital resilience and tending to soul wounds:
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