If you are dealing with a current or pending divorce, then you need the guidance and expertise of a divorce lawyer working for you. Whether the split is amicable or not, legal guidance can help make things go smoothly and can also help ensure your rights are honored during the proceedings.
A family law attorney can help answer basic divorce questions such as, what happens to my relationship status after filing for divorce, can both parties file for divorce, and what will it end up costing to file for my divorce? These and other vital questions can easily be addressed and discussed with your divorce attorney.
Your legal guide will also help you through the process of filing the actual divorce. They can assist with gathering paperwork and filling out blank divorce petition documentation and gathering everything that will be needed for your hearing. While it is possible to go through a divorce hearing on your own, it is almost always in your best interest to have legal assistance along the way. So, contact your local law firm and ask to speak with a family law expert today!
You can spend all day wondering about some of your burning divorce questions, or you can just contact a lawyer who has those answers at the ready for you. You might want to know are legal separations public record or what the best state to file for divorce is. You might have some other basic divorce questions that you are afraid to ask people that you personally know, but a lawyer can help you out.
Remember, a simple Internet search or other inquiry about divorce is probably not going to give you very accurate information. You need to get in touch with someone who really does have the answers for you. This also means that you might want to take the time to ask some questions about what life will be like after filing for divorce. There are probably a lot of things that will happen then that you also would benefit from knowing more about. It should all be placed in the hands of your attorney who undoubtedly has relevant experience handling these types of situations. They are equipped with the skills and expertise to get you through these trying times no matter what. Don’t wait, get in touch with a great attorney to help with your divorce today.
For many years the term “mental illness” was hardly uttered or understood. The very idea of mental illness was stigmatized and even scoffed at when placed against the physical and more tangible diseases and ailments. Over the past few decades, however, research on various mental illnesses has increased greatly, and the field has seen several breakthroughs. There is still much to learn about mental illness, of course, but at least now the majority of us can have an open discussion about its prevalence and relevance in our daily lives.
Deconstructing Depression
Perhaps the most common form of mental illness in the United States and around the globe is depression. In 2012, over 16 million adults in the U.S. claimed to have had at least one depressive episode. By the age of 18, about 11% of adolescents have a depressive disorder. If none of this sounds severe yet, consider the economic impact depression has. It’s estimated that the lack of productivity and health care resulting from depression costs the U.S. economy $80 billion.
But if depression is this common and this severe, it might come as a surprise that only half of those Americans suffering from depression seek counseling services and other medical attention. Part of the reason for this perhaps is the lingering stigma that remains from years ago when mental illness and depression weren’t taken seriously. Many people suffering from depression may become convinced by their well-meaning friends and family that they don’t need medical attention or therapy. They may think it’s a passing phase that can be remedied with a vacation or more money or other distractions. Many people are also good at hiding their depression so that their loved ones never even sense that anything is wrong. None of this changes the reality of depression for many people.
Mental Illness and Marriage
Mental illnesses such as depression don’t merely affect the individual suffering from the disease. One of the major strains on marriages is depression suffered by one of the parties, or both. While most cases of divorce involve an affair or something involving emotional distance, distrust or financial stress, the root of all these problems is often found in depression. Depression can lead one to seek comfort in external distractions, as well as reduce one’s drive to work and provide. For those dealing with depression it’s good to seek individual counseling, but it may also be necessary to seek marriage counseling or couples therapy, since one partner’s mental state inevitably affects the other partner.
While couples therapy like any therapy isn’t 100% effective at healing a relationship, the Chicago Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy has shown that half of the couples who took part in this type of couples therapy saw recovery after completion of the counseling, and that 70% of them were recovering within just three months. And nearly 93% of these patients claimed they were better equipped for working through their marital problems after working with a marriage or family therapist.
A Bright Future
While mental illness is still highly prevalent worldwide, the stigma surrounding it has decreased exponentially over the past few decades. This means that more people suffering from depression and other mental illnesses can feel more comfortable stepping forward and facing their illness, and more funding can be put into further understanding and treating these ailments. Whether or not divorce rates will decrease as a result of better mental health treatment remains to be seen. But the improvement of medical treatment and counseling services such as couples therapy means that we are on our way to better, healthier relationships and a more productive, positive society.
