Many of the symptoms experienced by traumatized individuals are not sufficiently captured by the existing ICD-11/DSM 5 criterion for PTSD, particularly when those symptoms include feelings of shame and guilt, loneliness, social isolation, fear of recrimination, and moral injury. Addressing these specific elements, particularly regarding moral injury, is increasingly important.

Moral injury refers to the psychological distress resulting from events that transgress an individual’s moral or ethical beliefs. Compassion-Focused EMDR is an emerging treatment approach for individuals experiencing moral injury. The approach integrates EMDR with compassion-focused techniques to target the shame, guilt, and self-criticism often associated with moral injury and trauma. This online course explores the core components of moral injury and shame-based trauma using both individual and political case studies, through the lens of the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model. Specific skills within Compassion-Focused EMDR therapy (CF-EMDR), will include CF-EMDR informed case conceptualization, psychoeducational frameworks, trauma regulation strategies, compassion-focused interweaves, and addressing vicarious traumatization and self-care.