#51: How to Heal a Moral Injury – Helping Healthcare Workers Heal Mental Wounds in the Aftermath of Coronavirus with Dr Dominic Murphy

5th May 2020

In today’s episode I talk to Head of Research at Combat Stress - Dr Dominic Murphy.

Combat Stress are the UKs leading charity for veterans’ mental health. For a century they have been helping former servicemen and women deal with issues like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression.

Today they provide specialist treatment and support for veterans from every service and conflict to give them hope and a future.

I think it would be a pragmatic choice to start discussing the mental implications of COVID- 19 on healthcare workers that have not only witnessed events but may have been involved in some huge decisions that challenge our moral code.

I’m sure that you will find our discussion today really interesting and thought provoking.

On the podcast, we talk about:

• Dominic’s work as a Clinical Psychologist and PTSD with war veterans
• The extent of PTSD and predisposing factors
• What is a moral injury?
• The relationship between moral injury and PTSD
• Why look at moral injury - why do some people not respond well to gold standard treatments for PTSD
• What are we doing in the UK to explore moral injury
• Is moral injury relevant during the current COVID-19 crisis?
• Preventative measures with food, alcohol and exercise
• The prevalence of PTSD before the pandemic and what needs to change in both the culture of medicine and access to care

Please do be sure to check out the Combat Stress website where they have some fantastic resources and support available and also look up their social media pages - links below.

You’ll also find links below to the papers that Dominic and I discussed on the podcast.

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