Divorce and Mental Health
I could not help but notice today in the news that there are calls from senior members of the judiciary that divorce laws in the UK are antiquated and need to be revisited and changed. Divorce is a traumatic experience for many people who go through it. Of course, many people are indeed going through it and from personal experience it is adversarial and can make a person feel as though one of the most important decisions of their lives is almost taken totally out of their hands and left to the lawyers.
This feeling of disempowerment and conflict can lead to many issues regarding a persons mental health and well being. No matter the cause or reason for divorce, both parties are human beings and need to be treated as such. Unfortunately, there is a predilection for some unscrupulous lawyers to use this time of vulnerability as a way of lining their own pockets at the expense of their client.
We are fragile creatures and divorce rates very highly on every stress indicator published. In my practice, I see people genuinely distress by the process of divorce and this in turn affects their mental health and well being. The time has come for a more human approach to divorce, not simply for legal reasons, but for mental health reasons as well.
