A review of empirical treatments focused on mind-body and spiritually grounded complementary practices for moral injury among veterans.

Abstract

Investigators have called for mind-body practices and spiritual and religious approaches for the treatment of moral injury in veterans. Programs and interventions that use mindfulness, meditation, spirituality, prayer, and other techniques span different academic disciplines and can be difficult for investigators and clinicians to identify but are important for those who work with veterans with moral injury. This paper reports a review of a systematic search that identified 12 empirical studies from eight databases (i.e., PSYCInfo, PSYCArticles, PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, ebsco Military & Government Collection, and cinahl) that use mind-body interventions or religious or spiritual interventions for the treatment of moral injury in veterans. Most identified studies were uncontrolled and included small samples. Although many of the identified interventions need additional research to illustrate feasibility and efficacy, mind-body practices and/or spiritual or religious approaches may provide novel and important methods for treating veterans with moral injury.