Oral History, Moral Injury, and Vietnam Veterans

Moral injury is a relatively new concept in the field of clinical psychology. Coauthors Napoli (Brooklyn College), and Vietnam veterans Brinson, Kenny, and Furey, employing the notion of "shared authority," revisited oral histories conducted more than a decade ago to see if they could identify instances or episodes in those interviews that might be interpreted or explained using the concept of moral injury. Analysis revealed that indeed, moral injury can be a valuable interpretive tool for oral historians and interviewees but that it must be treated with some degree of caution.