Grief, Moral Injury, and the Role of Ritual: A Formative Reflective Essay

This essay examines the limitations of medicalized frameworks like PTSD in addressing the deeper ruptures of grief and moral injury. While PTSD captures fear-based trauma, moral injury encompasses shame, guilt, and spiritual disorientation that fracture identity and meaning. Dennis Stevens explores, in a formative context, his thoughts on how narrative therapy, ritual, and the sanctification of objects can help restore coherence and community.

Drawing on thinkers such as Van Gennep, Eliade, Kohut, and Ricoeur, as well as various religious traditions, the essay argues that healing can emerge not solely through clinical treatment but also through the interplay of story, symbol, and shared ritual.