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<p>Moral injury is increasingly recognized as a form of suffering that extends beyond conventional psychiatric models, encompassing moral, existential, and relational dimensions of human experience.&#xa0;Building on Jonathan Shay’s seminal use of classical tragedy—particularly Homeric narratives—to conceptualize moral injury as a rupture in moral order and communal trust, this article reframes moral injury through the lens of the tragic narrative arc, offering both an interpretive framework and a clinically useful heuristic.&#xa0;Informed by narrative theory and narrative therapy, the model integrates processes such as externalization, contextual reappraisal, perspective-taking, and re-authoring disrupted identity narratives, without prescribing specific therapeutic techniques.&#xa0;Drawing on structural elements of the tragic arc—hamartia, reversal, recognition, and catharsis—moral injury is conceptualized not as pathology but as a process of moral reckoning shaped by constrained agency, ethical conflict, and irreversible loss.&#xa0;While broadly applicable across clinical and care-oriented disciplines, chaplains are particularly well suited to engage this framework due to their training in moral reflection and existential meaning-making. The model invites empirical evaluation and further development into formal narrative-based interventions.</p>

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Moral Injury as Tragedy: The Tragic Arc as a Narrative Heuristic for Clinical Practice

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月16日

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  • Wesley H. Fleming

摘要

Moral injury is increasingly recognized as a form of suffering that extends beyond conventional psychiatric models, encompassing moral, existential, and relational dimensions of human experience. Building on Jonathan Shay’s seminal use of classical tragedy—particularly Homeric narratives—to conceptualize moral injury as a rupture in moral order and communal trust, this article reframes moral injury through the lens of the tragic narrative arc, offering both an interpretive framework and a clinically useful heuristic. Informed by narrative theory and narrative therapy, the model integrates processes such as externalization, contextual reappraisal, perspective-taking, and re-authoring disrupted identity narratives, without prescribing specific therapeutic techniques. Drawing on structural elements of the tragic arc—hamartia, reversal, recognition, and catharsis—moral injury is conceptualized not as pathology but as a process of moral reckoning shaped by constrained agency, ethical conflict, and irreversible loss. While broadly applicable across clinical and care-oriented disciplines, chaplains are particularly well suited to engage this framework due to their training in moral reflection and existential meaning-making. The model invites empirical evaluation and further development into formal narrative-based interventions.