The real reason you want to quit your job – and it's not burnout

telegraph.co.uk:

Marina Ovsyannikova, who held up a sign on live Russian TV telling viewers: “They lie to you here.” In a statement recorded before her arrest, she described the emotions that led her to take action: “Unfortunately, I have been working on Channel One, producing Kremlin propaganda,” she said. “I am now very ashamed of this.”For those who have found themselves on the frontline of a different kind of battle, the war against Covid, moral injury has been all too common.

Dr Emma Hepburn, the clinical psychologist known to her 136,000 Instagram followers as @thepsychologymum, has recently worked in staff support. “Anecdotally I’ve heard more people speak about moral distress and injury,” she tells me. “A clear example of this was patients being unable to see their loved ones face-to-face when unwell or dying, which was very distressing for families and the healthcare workers supporting them.”Moral injury can also be mistaken for burnout, which is caused by chronic stress in the workplace, but, says Dr Hepburn, it is more specific. “It’s about experiencing situations which violate a person’s values, beliefs or ethics, which can include witnessing, engaging in and failing to stop a situation, or betrayal by a trusted person, which can include their organisation.”While it is not a diagnosis in itself, the effects of moral injury can include feelings of guilt, shame, betrayal and anger, she says. “And because the experiences have challenged [a sufferer’s] beliefs or assumptions, this may impact on their thoughts and beliefs about themselves, other people and the world.

They may turn to unhelpful coping strategies such as drinking or withdrawing from social situations, and as moral injury is linked to mental health difficulties, it.