VA San Diego Chaplain Service

Spiritual Injury in Military Service

Military service may involve separation from home, multiple deployments, exposure to different cultures, different morals, different religions and may require acts of violence that have specifically been prohibited in one’s religious tradition, resulting in spiritual injury.

Military personnel and their families rank religious organizations second only to family when it comes to providing helpful nonmilitary support.

Persons suffering from PTSD from recent conflicts are twice as likely as the general public to believe that God is punishing them for their sins or lack of spirituality.

Persons suffering from PTSD from recent conflicts are four times as likely as the general public to believe that God has abandoned them.

Moral and spiritual injury are often invisible injuries which go undetected because Veterans carry so much guilt and shame that it makes it difficult to discuss these injuries.

Families and military personnel may often feel forgotten or invisible in faith communities because members are simply unaware of the trials of families separated from their loved ones.

Families and military personnel may often feel forgotten or invisible in faith communities because members are opposed to war and believe that attending to the spiritual needs of military personnel or their families is to support war.

The pain of spiritual injury and moral distress in military personnel or Veterans can be so severe that it leads to use of alcohol or drugs use to cover the suffering.  Suicide attempts may be efforts to escape the spiritual suffering all together.

Local faith communities can become healing agents for families and military personnel through intentional efforts to reach out during each stage of the deployment cycle.  It only takes one person or a small group to make this happen.

The VA San Diego has outpatient spiritual care counseling and groups specifically designed to help Veterans deal with guilt, shame, forgiveness and other spiritual issues.

“10 Things You Should Know” is produced by the VA San Diego Healthcare System, where caring for Veterans is our top priority, in partnership with Chaplains Caring for Veterans and Families, an informal organization committed to helping faith communities identify and attend to the spiritual distress experienced at times by those in military service.  For more information on this program call the VA San Diego Healthcare System Chaplain Service at 858-642-3496.