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[PTSD and moral injury are] entwined, but they're different.

Dr. Irene Zoesch (US Army, 2014-2018) shares her perspective on the relationship between moral injury and PTSD.

Transcript

They're, they're...
entwined, but they're different.

PTSD is you're hyper aware,
you're vigilant, you're anxious,

even though you might not label
it as being anxious.

I know when I do my screening
check ins with my therapist

and I fill out
a little questionnaire.

I almost never score
anything elevated

on the anxiety
scoring scoresheet,

but with moral injury,
you aren't necessarily anxious.

You have a true disconnect
between

who you believe
your sense of self is

and what you have experienced.

That goes against that grain
of who you are as a person.

And so it is harder
sometimes to be able

to tease those two things out
because they go hand-in-hand.

But it really is about when you
treat your moral injury,

taking
back that part of yourself

and aligning it in the newer

version of yourself,
but not a worse off one

one that
is going to be more complete.

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