survivor guilt
Why me? anguish
Survivor guilt is the psychological burden of having lived through something that killed others.
Holocaust survivors, combat veterans, and accident survivors may feel guilty for being alive when others died—sometimes questioning why they were spared.
The feeling can persist even when survival involved no moral choice: She struggled with survivor guilt for years after the crash.
- PTSDChronic reaction to horrific events
- undeservingNot meriting what's given
- traumaLasting psychological wound
- moral injuryPsychological wound from transgression
- posttraumatic stress disorderLasting psychological trauma response
grief · flashbacks · remorse · combat stress · left behind · intergenerational trauma · bereavement · therapy · guilty conscience · borrowed time · second chance · emotional numbness · trauma recovery · grief counseling · support group · war · mourning · forgiveness
- war traumashell shock, PTSD, combat fatigue, battle fatigue, combat stress
- griefgrief, mourning, bereavement, sorrow, grieving
- grief supportgrief counseling, grief counselor, bereavement support, grief therapy, bereavement leave
- Military Mental HealthPTSD, combat stress, combat trauma, shell shock, battle fatigue
- traumaabuse, abandonment, abandonment trauma, acute stress, amnesia
- war ailmentstrench foot, trench fever, shell shock, combat fatigue, battle fatigue
survivor guiltrelief
Easing of distress
gratitude · contentment · peace of mind · closure · equanimity
survivor guiltself-forgiveness
Granting yourself absolution
self-acceptance · self-compassion · blamelessness · self-righteousness · vindication