Mindful Self-Compassion for Veterans with Morally Injurious Experiences and Co-Occurring Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Substance Use Disorder: A Feasibility Study.

Summary

Veterans participating in an 8-week Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program showed promising results, with 69.2% completing the intervention despite high rates of moral injury and co-occurring PTSD and substance use disorder. Participants reported significant increases in self-compassion and reductions in PTSD symptoms, guilt, and shame. Specifically, there were notable decreases in drinking days among veterans. With 26 participants involved, this study demonstrated strong acceptability and feasibility for MSC as a complementary approach to traditional trauma therapies.

Abstract

Objective: This study evaluates the feasibility and acceptability of delivering Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) to veterans with moral injury and co-occurring PTSD and substance use disorder (PTSD-SUD). Methods: Veterans (N = 26; M age = 50.92; 100% male) were recruited for an 8-week MSC group. Participants completed measures of self-compassion, guilt, shame, PTSD, and substance use outcomes at baseline, post-treatment, and one-month post-treatment. Results: The recruitment target was easily met, and dropout rates were low (30.8%) for a comorbid veteran sample. Participants reported satisfaction with the intervention. Clinically meaningful change was examined for self-compassion, trauma-related symptoms, and substance use. A clinically meaningful increase for self-compassion and clinically meaningful decreases in PTSD symptoms, guilt, shame, and number of drinking days were observed. Conclusions: The open-label design and small sample size preclude conclusions regarding efficacy. However, these preliminary findings are encouraging and suggest further investigation of MSC as a compliment to existing trauma-related therapies (NCT03681288).

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