Posttraumatic growth has been documented among a small subset of the population, particularly military veterans. The phenomenon is not generally known outside of a narrow audience within the field of trauma psychology, and is seen as an exceptional outcome, not the norm. There is a growing awareness of the difference between traditionally recognized forms of combat trauma (and associated psychopathology) and experiences that are better described as moral injuries, which stem from incidents that involve perceived violations of deeply-held values by self or others. In such cases, moral injuries may present themselves to individuals as something like disorienting dilemmas as described in the literature of transformative learning. Moral injury is increasingly recognized outside of the military and veteran population, particularly by other groups who are, or perceive themselves to have been, harmed or marginalized in some way. This roundtable discussion invites scholars and practitioners of both transformative learning and psychology to join in a dialogue around the overlaps between the literatures of posttraumatic growth and transformative learning, with the goals of embracing the uniqueness of these phenomena while also gaining some insights into ways to increase access to this experience among those who have experienced moral injuries.

Presenters: