MORAL DISTRESS / MORAL INJURY

“This flies in the face of all I hold dear.”

In the run up to the holidays and time when we all self-reflect and take stock of our current situation, we predictably think about what we want to change and improve and get better for next year.

In recent newsletters, I have been sharing with you some information and food for thought about you, your team, your colleagues and your leaders, your workplace and your mindset.

In today's fast-paced work environment, 'burnout' has become a ubiquitous term, often serving as a catch-all diagnosis for a myriad of workplace stressors and mental fatigue.

MORAL DISTRESS / MORAL INJURY

“This flies in the face of all I hold dear.”

Moral Distress is a specific form of emotional turmoil that arises when team members encounter ethical dilemmas in their work.

Findings The empirical findings suggest that psychological distress can occur in response to a variety of moral events (Morley, G., Bradbury‐Jones, C., & Ives, J., 2019).

It is mostly experienced by people in healthcare, law enforcement (police and legal sector), and other fields requiring ethical decision-making. Increasingly being seen in sectors that relate to the climate and environment challenges, such as oil and gas, as well as insurance and local government sectors, online gambling, and pharmaceutical sectors.

Generally speaking, the issue is referred to as Moral Injury when symptoms occur that include deep shame at one’s actions.

Unlike general workplace stress or burnout, moral distress occurs when one knows the ethically correct action to take but is constrained by external factors, such as institutional policies or lack of resources. It is sometimes seen in conjunction with Secondary Traumatic Stress.

This can lead to feelings of powerlessness, guilt, and even questioning one's professional integrity.

Addressing moral distress requires ethical dialogue and systemic change, making it distinct from other mental health challenges in the workplace. Institutional betrayal is common when the team member feels the organisation either doesn’t know about, care about, or won’t address the moral issue.

These findings suggest that moral justifications of (workplace) safety violations, and related injuries, may be prevented by exchanges of positive emotions (and triggered by exchanges of negative emotions) that employees absorb during social interactions at work. (Petitta, L., Probst, T., Ghezzi, V., & Barbaranelli, C., 2021).

I can help with that. As a Clinical Director, I have developed and delivered programs tackling extreme levels of burnout and mental ill-health in individuals and groups for over a decade.

If this information is important enough for your to read this far, then please share it with anyone you know that needs to read it as well.

Let’s have a discussion around getting this right for our people.