Clinical Considerations for Trauma-Related Guilt in Military Personnel
Guilt is commonly reported by trauma survivors and has been linked to greater posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity (e.g., Bryan et al., 2015). As such, understanding how guilt impacts PTSD recovery has been of significant interest to clinicians and researchers. Indeed, there has been debate about whether prolonged exposure therapy (PE) is as effective for those with high guilt, with some suggesting that imaginal exposure to trauma memories is either unhelpful (e.g., Grunert, Weis, Smucker, & Christianson, 2007) or potentially iatrogenic (e.g., Pitman et al., 1991).