The Moral Injury Workbook: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Skills for Moving Beyond Shame, Anger, and Trauma to Reclaim Your Values

by Wyatt R. Evans PhD, Robyn D. Walser PhD, Kent D. Drescher PhD, Jacob K. Farnsworth PhD

Overview

Introducing the first self-help workbook for moral injury, featuring a powerful approach grounded in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help you heal in the midst of moral pain and connect with a deeper sense of meaning and purpose.

If you’ve experienced, witnessed, or failed to prevent an act that violates your own deeply held values—such as harming someone in an automobile accident, or failing to save someone from a dangerous situation—you may suffer from moral injury, an enduring psychological and spiritual pain that is often accompanied by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, substance abuse, and other mental health conditions. In order to begin healing, you need to (re)connect with your values and what really matters to you as a human being. Written by a renowned team of PTSD and trauma professionals, this workbook can help.

The Moral Injury Workbook is the first workbook of its kind to offer a powerful step-by-step program to help you move beyond moral pain. With this guide, you’ll learn to work through difficult thoughts, emotions, and spiritual troubles; (re)connect with your deeply held sense of self, values, or spiritual beliefs; and gain the psychological flexibility you need to begin healing and live a full and meaningful life. Links to downloadable worksheets for veterans and clinicians are also included.

Whether you’ve experienced moral injury yourself, work in the field of mental health, or are a pastoral advisor seeking new ways to help facilitate moral healing, this workbook is an effective and much-needed resource.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684034772
Publisher:	New Harbinger Publications
Publication date:	07/01/2020
Edition description:	Workbook
Pages:	200
Sales rank:	62,508
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Wyatt R. Evans, PhD, is a board-certified clinical psychologist with the VA North Texas Health Care System, and therapist in private practice in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. His primary areas of expertise are resilience and post-traumatic stress, including moral injury. He is committed to advancing interventions, especially acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), to promote recovery and enhance resilience for service members, veterans, and others highly affected by trauma.


Robyn D. Walser, PhD, is director of TL Consultation and Psychological Services, and codirector of Bay Area Trauma Recovery Clinical Services. She works at the National Center for PTSD, developing and disseminating innovative ways to translate science into practice; and serves as assistant clinical professor in the department of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. As a licensed clinical psychologist, she maintains an international training, consulting, and therapy practice. Walser has authored and coauthored six books: The Heart of ACT, Learning ACT, The Mindful Couple, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for the Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Trauma-Related Problems, and ACT for Clergy and Pastoral Counselors.


Kent D. Drescher, PhD, is a clinical psychologist (retired) who provided clinical services, education, and research as a staff member with the National Center for PTSD for more than twenty-seven years. His primary areas of expertise include the intersection of trauma and spirituality and moral injury. He has been an early advocate for the use of ACT for veterans struggling with moral challenges following military service.


Jacob K. Farnsworth, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist with the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System, specializing in trauma and substance use disorders. He is codeveloper of the ACT for moral injury intervention, and his writing and research has focused on translating cutting-edge research into innovative and effective treatments for moral injury.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

Part 1 Preparing for the Journey of Healing

Chapter 1 The Pain of Violated Values 13

Chapter 2 When Pain Becomes Suffering 31

Chapter 3 Mapping Your Moral Communities 49

Part 2 Embracing Moral Pain to Engage Moral Values

Chapter 4 You Are More Than You Know 69

Chapter 5 Stepping Back from Judgments, Stories, and Rules 85

Chapter 6 Values as the Flip Side of Moral Pain 101

Chapter 7 Accepting Moral Pain in the Service of Vital Living 119

Chapter 8 Living Your Values in the Present Moment 131

Part 3 Moving Forward, Living Well

Chapter 9 Forgiveness: To Give What Came Before 147

Chapter 10 Compassion: Cultivating Kindness and Connection 161

Chapter 11 Living Is Doing 173

References 183

Interviews

Evans resides in Houston, TX; Drescher resides in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, CA; Farnsworth resides in the Denver Metro Area, CO; Walser resides in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area.
 

Editorial Reviews

This useful resource for anyone suffering from or caring for those with moral injury helpfully brings ACT principles to bear in a manner that invites a fresh, honest, and ultimately hopeful exploration of one’s moral identity.”
—Jason Nieuwsma, PhD, associate director of the VA Mid-Atlantic MIRECC Mental Health and Chaplaincy program, and associate professor at Duke University Medical Center

Jason Nieuwsma

Grounded in the collective clinical and scientific expertise of the four authors, this important contribution is full of compassionate, wise, and much-needed, practical tools for addressing moral injury with acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). For persons seeking to heal their lives from the wounds of morally injurious events, they will find a treasure trove of insights and strategies for restoring human connection and meaningful living. For clinicians and trainees who desire to incorporate ACT in their attempts to address moral injury in therapeutic settings, this book is similarly essential reading, and one that will be reviewed again and again.”
—Joseph Currier, PhD, associate professor of psychology at the University of South Alabama, and lead editor of Addressing Moral Injury in Clinical Practice
 

Joseph Currier

Providing essential resources for both therapists and clients, this book is a comprehensive and compassionate account of finding a way forward after surviving a range of adverse experiences. Based on science and grounded in the heart, the authors have delivered a text that combines clinical insights, personal stories, and useful exercises for finding meaning in living. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in trauma and moral injury. Both clients and therapists will find support and comfort in these words, which give a sense of purpose to doing the difficult work of addressing moral injury.”
—Victoria Follette, PhD, PsyD, program chair, director of clinical training, and professor in the school of psychology at Florida Institute of Technology

Victoria Follette

You are not alone, and it is possible to reconnect with who and what is most important to you. This is the hope-filled message of The Moral Injury Workbook. Whether you have done or failed to do something, or something has been done to you, if you have experienced a betrayal of moral values you hold dear, this workbook offers evidence-based strategies for how to move forward and reclaim your life. It is an inspiring and essential resource for anyone facing the complex, painful, and often hidden struggles that result from moral injury.”
—Jenna LeJeune, PhD, licensed clinical psychologist; president of Portland Psychotherapy Clinic, Research, and Training Center; and coauthor of Values in Therapy

Jenna LeJeune

If you find yourself haunted by a past event where you hurt or injured someone, or witnessed this happening to someone else, then I urge you to consider this book. The authors relate powerful stories and tools that can help you move from alienation and disconnection to repair and wholeness. If your moral sense has been disrupted or damaged, this book is a lifeline.”
—Jason B. Luoma, PhD, shame and self-compassion researcher, and coauthor of Learning ACT and Values in Therapy

Jason B. Luoma