A Depth Psychological Approach to Moral Injury and PTSD in Veterans: An Interview with Erik Goodwyn, MD

Erik Goodwyn, MD, is a psychiatrist who has listened to the dreams and fantasies of suffering people in both military and civilian settings. He is a veteran and a scholar published in anthropology, dream analysis, mythology, ritual, philosophy, and archetypal psychology. He is also a co-teacher of Pacifica Extension and International Studies’ upcoming certificate, “A Depth Psychological Approach to Moral Injury and PTSD in Veterans: Restoration and the Returning Warrior,” February 20, 2025 – July 31, 2025. I’m delighted to speak with Erik about his work and the certificate.

Angela Borda: The title of the certificate you’ll be co-teaching, “A Depth Psychological Approach to Moral Injury and PTSD in Veterans,” caught my eye because of a term I wasn’t familiar with, namely “Moral Injury.” What does that mean in psychological terms and in the case of the soldier in particular?

Erik Goodwyn: Moral Injury is when a person is put into a situation in which they are compelled emotionally or otherwise forced into doing something harmful to another human being. It is an unfortunate consequence of war as a whole, though it can occur outside of this context. Nevertheless, war is rife with moral injuries because of the widespread violence and destruction, and the way in which it evokes rage and vengeful feelings, moving us to do things we would not otherwise do, or asking us to kill and destroy to avoid being killed. When it happens, it can be devastating to those so injured, and manifest as a particularly resistant form of PTSD.

I started learning about analytical psychology as a resident, and began incorporating ideas about archetypes and the importance of mythic narratives into my practice right away in my subsequent years as a military psychiatrist. I found that depth psychology offered an additional set of tools that were particularly effective at helping soldiers dealing with trauma and moral injury.

Angela: The certificate has four teachers. Yourself, Roger Brooke, Edward Tick, and Kate Dahlstedt, all of you being described as “internationally renowned authors, educators, and transformational leaders in the fields of Analytical Psychology, Military Psychology, and Military Psychiatry each of whom specialize in war mental health trauma.” In your estimation, what are the focuses you each bring and how will you complement one another in the certificate?

Erik: Edward and Kate bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise, both individually and as a team with their extensive experience treating veterans and their families. Roger Brooke has a great deal of skill and knowledge, not only from his extensive scholarship, but with his experience working with indigenous peoples in war situations, as well as a comprehensive knowledge of Jungian theory and practice. As a psychiatrist, I bring my own medical experience in both the Army and Air Force, as well as years of scholarly work and teaching to bear on this subject. Together I think we make for an outstanding team and I am very excited about what we are bringing to this unique and unprecedented course.

Angela: Your book, Healing Symbols in Psychotherapy: a Ritual Approach, is part of the required reading for the certificate. How do symbols and a ritual approach come to bear in the healing of veteran’s trauma? And was the book something you wrote with this in mind?

Erik: I wrote Healing Symbols while I was still in the military, and my military experience definitely played a part in formulating that book. In general, in Western nations, we do not utilize the vast resources that ritual thought and practice bring in producing healing and change. Analytical psychology is especially relevant here because of its emphasis on activating the inner healing resources we all have, and because of the importance it places on the transformative power of symbols. The psyche naturally produces symbolic narratives all the time in dreams and other spontaneous images, but psychiatry and psychology do not typically utilize this potential. In this course, I will show how to correct this shortcoming.

Angela: One of your lectures for the certificate will be “Dreams in combat and after returning home in PTSD–archetypal dimensions.” Dreams are obviously a big part of depth psychology. How do you work with active and returning military personnel in terms of dreams. Do you find that this is an avenue by which they can access and heal the violence they’ve witnessed and been part of?

Erik: Absolutely. As I mentioned, we dream because the psyche is trying to heal. Even in the case of recurrent traumatic nightmares, this happens because the psyche is trying to “make sense of” the trauma and help us integrate it into our own ongoing narrative and identity. By examining them directly with patients, and understanding their meanings and mechanisms, we can help facilitate the natural healing process and smooth it out, moving the patient along towards peace and growth. We will explore this directly in the course with specific examples to show how this is accomplished.

Angela: Another topic you’ll be lecturing on is “Storytelling, the Transcendent Function in War and Returning, in fiction, myth, and art.” There have been so many stories told about war and the return home, from Homer’s Odyssey to The Hurt Locker. How do you work with stories and veterans, and in taking a look at the story, can we change the outcome the person has in returning from war?

Erik: Stories are incredibly important to homo sapiens. They are the primary way in which we organize the vast amounts of sensory information bombarding our brains every day. Our memories are not “stored” like data blips into a computer—the brain doesn’t work that way. No, we store our memories in stories. But the psyche doesn’t stop there. It’s not enough to just know what happened. We need to know what it means. And that is where “fiction” comes in. Fictional stories are when we take the events of our memory, break them up into tiny pieces and then put them all together into a new symbolic narrative. This takes us from “what happened” to “what it means”. As such, we will take any story we hear that resonates and feed it into this process. Great epics like the Odyssey, or Beowulf are a part of this, as are modern works. The most powerful narratives that speak to the most number of people are the ones we will still be talking about in 1000 years, like those ancient epics.

Angela: Who would most benefit from taking this certificate? Is this intended for veterans, military administrators, psychologists, or all three?

Erik: It is recommended for all three, and more—as I believe military families will benefit tremendously from what we teach and discuss in this course, so as to help them understand what their loved ones are going through. Concepts like Moral Injury are sometimes difficult for civilians to understand, and this can put up a wall between them and their loved ones. Accessing this course can help break down that barrier.

Angela: Thank you for sharing your work and perspective. I look forward to the certificate.

Erik: I am very excited to share this course and bring it to the wider community!

“A Depth Psychological Approach to Moral Injury and PTSD in Veterans: Restoration and the Returning Warrior” will take place February 20, 2025 – July 31, 2025, and is now open for registration on our website.

Erik Goodwyn, MD, is a psychiatrist who has listened to the dreams and fantasies of suffering people in both military and civilian settings. He is a veteran and a scholar published in anthropology, dream analysis, mythology, ritual, philosophy, and archetypal psychology. He has been invited to give lectures in Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, and all over the United States. His passion is the imagination in all its manifestations, which is why he is also an author of fantasy fiction. He feels the symbolic and fantastical imagery of the imagination is the only way to depict some of the most important and mysterious truths of the human soul, as depicted in his Raven’s Tale series.

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Angela Borda is a writer for Pacifica Graduate Institute, as well as the editor of the Santa Barbara Literary Journal. Her work has been published in Food & Home, Peregrine, Hurricanes & Swan Songs, Delirium Corridor, Still Arts Quarterly, Danse Macabre, and is forthcoming in The Tertiary Lodger and Running Wild Anthology of Stories, Vol. 5.