Most Springfield, Massachusetts, residents know anecdotally that divorce is a stressful experience. It only makes sense that the end of a relationship would come with some emotional stress and psychological turmoil.
Scholarly research backs up this common experience. The emotional experience which accompanies a divorce often begins a couple or three years prior to the actual divorce starts. Along with a sense of generalized dissatisfaction with one’s spouse, a person will also feel a lot of fear, guilt, anxiety and the like.
Once the process starts, a lot of anger might come out as well as a lot of fault finding and other negative feelings. There is a reason for this. When people have decided to end an important relationship, they tend to justify the decision and deal with their internal conflict by blaming the other person either subtly or not so subtly. At this point, the spouse who filed the divorce will usually have different feelings than the spouse who was, at least in theory, got taken aback.
The good news is that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. At a certain point, most people are able to forgive, or at least put the divorce behind them and move on.
While unfortunately there is no way of preventing negative emotions altogether, there are some things parties in a divorce can do to get through the experience with less emotional stress. Hiring a family law attorney is helpful, and so is considering other legal options that might reduce the stress levels. While not for everyone, mediation is one such option.
