Humanness and self-dehumanization in the context of combat-related moral injury: pilot study

Abstract

Moral injury (MI) is a relatively new concept that describes negative mental health outcomes resulting from past wrongdoing or the perception of wrongdoing. It emerged in work with military veterans as a counterpoint to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which historically describes negative mental health outcomes resulting from past threats-to-life or physical integrity. There are several frameworks that outline the causes and symptoms of moral injury. One potentially relevant framework is one of humanness, self-dehumanization and re-humanization in response to a harming event. These concepts were developed in the fields of moral and social psychology and have yet to be applied to cases of combat-related moral injury. This pilot study focused on the relationship between symptoms of moral injury and measures of humanness. Forty-nine combat veterans completed an online survey to include the Expressions of Moral Injury Scale - Military Version (EMIS-M), and a measure of humanness based on a 2006 integrated model of humanness (Haslam, 2006). Findings suggest that EMIS scores - particularly self-directed EMIS scores - are moderately, negatively correlated with humanness scores.