Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This paper describes three theoretical models that focus on meaning-making as a foundation for moral injury conceptualization and care, as manifested in the Reclaiming Experiences and Loss (REAL) moral injury group therapy. The philosophical foundation of the REAL group is Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy, which emphasizes the role of the human spirit and posits that meaning is achieved through living out one’s fundamental responsibility to actualize whatever values are available in a given moment. Constructive psychotherapy operates from core assumptions about client autonomy, an inherent drive toward meaning, the influential impact of experiences with others, and a capacity to live within one understanding of reality while simultaneously considering other possibilities. These assumptions shape the format and processes of the REAL group. Finally, meaning reconstruction provides the overarching structure for processing grief and loss that retains sufficient coherence around shared tasks and experiences to facilitate a group experience, while also maintaining space for each person’s particular journey of lamenting and reckoning with the aftermath of a moral violation. The REAL group therapy model promotes healing by emphasizing each person’s unique and particular opportunities for meaning while underscoring the common, shared human capacities and responsibilities that are fundamental to human existence.
Source: Frontiers in Psychiatry
Author: Melissa A. Smigelsky
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
Funders: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Deutsches Zentrum für Infektionsforschung, Academic Medical Organization of Southwestern Ontario, Northern Ontario Academic Medicine Association, Tecnológico Nacional de México, UK Research and Innovation, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Department of Science and Innovation, South Africa, Recordati Rare Diseases, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Leverhulme Trust, European Commission, University of Birmingham, National Research Foundation, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Chungnam National University, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, Eusko Jaurlaritza, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, University of Toronto, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Rural Development Administration, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, National Research Foundation of Korea, Kunming Medical University, Medicines for Malaria Venture, Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS, China Scholarship Council, Universidad de Murcia, Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province, Biotronik, Agricultural Research Development Agency, Huazhong Agricultural University, Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Department, Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Klinische Forschung, Universitätsklinikum Würzburg, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Ministry of Science and ICT, South Korea, Seoul Metropolitan Government Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center, Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo, National Institutes of Health, HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme, Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute, European Regional Development Fund, National Key Research and Development Program of China, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH Clinical Center, Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Biosense Webster, HORIZON EUROPE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province
OpenAlex ID: W7143870657