Authors:
- Maya Böhm: ResearchGate

- Doreen Hoffmann, Abteilung für Medizinische Psychologie und Medizinische Soziologie (Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology), Universitätsklinikum Leipzig (University of Leipzig Medical Center), Universität Leipzig (University of Leipzig)

- Birgit Wagner, Department Psychologie (Department of Psychology), MSB Medical School Berlin

Abstract: »Moral injury has increasingly been recognized as a relevant concept in psychotraumatology over the last decades. The psychological distress that arises from injuries to deeply held moral values and beliefs following actions and omission by the self or others appears to also play a role in regard to out-of-home care of children and adolescents. The research presented here investigated moral injury, shame, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD in an explorative study using an online questionnaire in a sample of treatment-seeking participants with experience in children’s homes in the GDR (n = 100). Participants reported a high rate of moral injury by others and moral injury by own action or omission to a lesser extent. Moral injury, shame and symptoms of (c)PTSD were significantly and positively associated with each other, consistent with existing research evidence. The relation between moral injury and symptoms of (c)PTSD were mediated by feelings of shame. Moral injury and shame should be taken into account when treating clients who lived in children’s homes of the GDR.« (Source: Trauma & Gewalt)

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