How meaningful is meaning-making?

Abstract The aim of this paper is to develop understandings of how meaning-making processes apply to moral injury in military populations. Moral injury is an emerging clinical construct recognized as a source of mental health morbidity. Meaning-making processes, especially following highly stressful events, have far-reaching applicability to ensuring favorable mental health outcomes. This paper examines meaning-making processes in the context of moral injury: meaning and morality in times of war, morally injurious experiences, moral emotions and cognitions, the importance of meaning-making in general mental health, and how meaning-making plays into the expressions and/or symptoms of MI. We apply these understandings in a case vignette of a Veteran affected by moral injury. We end by offering suggestions on how meaning-making can be applied in the development of clinical support strategies in cases of moral injury.