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If you are feeling guilt and shame, it's going to be very hard to show up for your friends.

Dr. Shira Maguen knows how important it is to have successful relationships, and guilt and shame from moral injury can really get in the way of those relationships.

Transcript

When you have that cluster
of symptoms with moral injury,

it's very difficult
to actually have

successful relationships
in your life.

And relationships really drive
so much of how

we are in the world. Right?

And so if you are feeling guilt
and shame and carrying around

those feelings all the time,
it's going to be very hard

to show up for your friends,
for your partner, for your kids,

you know,
for your family. Right?

And so if you think
badly of yourself,

you're going to be in your head
and withdrawing

and not as present in your life.

And so I think for me,
the important thing I always ask

about how a person
is functioning out in the world.

I want to hear from veterans.

How is that going for for you?

How are your
relationships going?

How is your work going?

How are your friendships going?

Do you feel like
you have genuine relationships?

And to me, that's a big sign
of what comes next.

It's those connections
that we have with people,

and if there is a disruption
in that,

then that's really going
to impact the person's life.

And that's why it's so important
that people try to

start the process of healing.

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