Moral injury

A moral injury is an injury to an individual's moral and personality, maybe holistic conscience and values resulting from an act of perceived moral transgression on the part of themselves or others. It produces profound feelings of guilt or shame, moral disorientation, and societal alienation. In some cases it may cause a sense of betrayal and anger toward colleagues, commanders, the organization, politics, or society at large.

Moral injury is most often studied in the context of military personnel, and is studied in occupational groups that frequently encounter "high-stakes" situations. It has been studied in healthcare workers (especially during the COVID-19 pandemic), prison officers, humanitarian aid workers, human trafficking survivors, people involved in accidents, and people who have been raped or abused.