Emotional Recovery After Divorce

For most people, a divorce is a traumatic event. The word “trauma” comes from Greek and means “a wound”. In the 19th century, a psychological definition was added to the word to mean “an unpleasant experience which causes abnormal stress” (www.dictionary.com). Those who are wounded by divorce are just as much in need of recovery as those who have physical wounds.

One path to recovery is to get the divorce support you need, not only the kind of support that helps you with the divorce legal papers and procedures, but divorce support that pays attention to your emotional and psychological needs as well. Divorce With Dignity is a network of divorce assistance professionals who take a holistic approach to divorce, providing divorce support services as well as referrals to other professionals such as therapists and life coaches to help you through this traumatic time.

If you are now facing divorce, check the list below to see how many of these apply to you:

• feeling adrift
• constant feeling of loss
• self-pity
• anger
• depression
• lowered sense of self-worth and self-esteem
• lack of motivation and drive to try new things
• less self-confidence
• anxiety
• worried about many things, especially about letting someone new into your life
• work problems
• sleep problems
• dreading the thought of divorce

If you saw yourself in this list, then you, my friend, have experienced emotional trauma and are in need of emotionaly recovery. Your friends might tell you that you’ll be fine, “you just need time to heal”. Broken bones need time to heal too, but have to be set in place and protected while they do. You also might need something more than just time to heal. Emotional trauma that is not attended to can lead you into a downward spiral. How can you get yourself set into a place that will make you feel whole again?

Some say that going through a divorce has steps that are similar to dealing with a death – denial, anger/resentment/fear, withdrawal/grieving, and finally acceptance and action. Perhaps getting some counseling or joining a divorce support group could help you move through these steps and come to a point where you can give yourself permission to accept what has happened and move on with your life. It could be a cleansing experience that washes away all the grime and stickiness of the past and allows you to see more clearly the opportunities and exciting discoveries that await you.

Divorce With Dignity is here to get you through the legal details of a non-litigated, peaceful divorce, and to provide divorce support that includes information about professionals or groups that might be of help to you in your emotional recovery after divorce. Visit our website and give us a call today to get the divorce support you need to create a new and happy life for yourself.