The psychological experience of guilt, shame, humiliation, anguish, anxiety, and self-blame is called moral injury. It often arises from betrayal of personal values caused by violating societal norms or standards. When one's employment involves ethically challenging situations, this can lead to moral dilemmas that require difficult decisions.
Some employees must choose between their professional obligations and emotional-sexual loyalty to a partner who wants them to prioritize their relationship. This can result in feelings of regret and trauma leading to negative consequences for individuals and organizations alike. To help employees process these experiences, it may be beneficial to understand how they impact identity, behavior, communication, cognitive processing, decision making, emotion regulation, stress response, and interpersonal dynamics.
Impact on Identity
Moral injuries cause people to question their sense of self and belonging in society due to conflicting loyalties and belief systems. Employees may feel ashamed of their actions or guilty about letting down their partners, leading them to doubt themselves as good people or valuable members of their workplace community. Their identities become fractured, causing internal conflicts and self-criticism that affect job performance and mental health. They might struggle with dissonance between what they did versus who they thought they were beforehand, creating a crisis of meaning and purpose that requires reevaluating core beliefs.
Effects on Behavior
When faced with moral dilemmas involving intimacy, employees may act out of character or against established norms to satisfy both parties involved - but at great cost to themselves. They could neglect responsibilities at work or home while prioritizing intimate relationships above all else, which can damage personal branding, career advancement, financial stability, social networks, and family ties over time. The pressure to make this choice often leads to heightened anxiety levels, increased risk-taking behaviors, substance abuse, aggression, depression symptoms, or even suicidal ideation if left unchecked.
Communication
The emotional fallout from these decisions also creates challenges for professional communication within teams. If an employee chooses one side over the other without informing colleagues first - perhaps due to fear or shame - it may lead to distrust among teammates and supervisors alike. This can cause rifts within the organization by diminishing trustworthiness, credibility, collaboration opportunities, and overall productivity, ultimately impacting organizational goals and objectives.
Cognitive Processing
Employees may experience cognitive dissonance after making tough choices involving morality since conflicting ideas create inner turmoil about rightness versus wrongness. They might wrestle with their sense of responsibility toward multiple stakeholders simultaneously - such as job duties versus romantic commitments - leading them down a rabbit hole of indecision until they reach resolutions that either harm relationships or compromise professional obligations. It's important for organizations to support employees through these times so they don't become trapped in mental loops incapable of progressing forward effectively.
Decision Making
When faced with similar situations in the future, employees must weigh options carefully while considering personal values versus employer expectations. Moral injuries leave lasting impressions on decision-making processes; individuals often struggle to evaluate alternatives objectively once betrayed by past experiences resulting in defensiveness, denial, avoidance, or resignation instead of rational analysis. Organizations should aim to facilitate open dialogue about ethical dilemmas during training sessions or provide resources on how best handle moral conflicts proactively before crises arise.
Emotion Regulation
Moral injuries also affect emotional regulation abilities due to heightened arousal levels caused by guilt and shame. Individuals may feel overwhelmed by strong feelings associated with betrayals or failures leading them to suppress or express outbursts uncontrollably. This can lead to social isolation, withdrawal behaviors, aggression towards others, and even self-harm if left untreated. Organizations must help staff members develop healthy coping strategies like mindfulness exercises, journaling therapies, meditation techniques, or cognitive behavioral interventions. These activities promote wellbeing while helping manage stress responses related to moral injury aftermaths.
Stress Response
The body responds physiologically when experiencing high amounts of psychological stress such as those accompanying moral wounds. Heart rates increase rapidly during conflict resolution scenarios involving intimate relationships and workplace demands simultaneously - causing physical discomfort that escalates into panic attacks, chest pains, or other symptoms requiring medical attention. Employers can support employees through these times by offering flexible working arrangements, counseling services, mental health days off, relaxation breaks throughout the day, etc., allowing for recharge opportunities between tasks and job duties.
Interpersonal Dynamics
Employees may struggle socially within teams after processing moral injuries since teammates sometimes perceive loyalty choices negatively. Those who prioritize personal lives above professional obligations are often viewed as unreliable workers; this perception creates tension between coworkers who resent sacrifices made on behalf of romantic partnerships. It's important for employers to provide safe spaces where individuals discuss their experiences openly without fear of judgment so they can heal emotionally from past traumas instead of hiding feelings behind closed doors out of shame or embarrassment.
How do employees process moral injury when forced to choose between professional duty and emotional-sexual loyalty to a partner?
Employees who are required to make a choice between their professional duties and their personal relationships may experience a form of trauma known as moral injury. This type of trauma can arise from a sense that one's actions have violated one's moral code or values, and it often leads to feelings of shame, guilt, and betrayal.