Asking for and going through a divorce can be traumatic. If you have already experienced other elements of stress before seeking a divorce, the grieving process that comes along with a divorce can add complexity. Most people do not marry and expect to divorce and yet in the United States alone, the divorce rate is estimated at 42 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control. When the image of your married life ends, there will inevitably be pain and heartache even if you were the one who wanted it. A divorce is a loss and with loss comes grief.
Navigating grief in divorce in addition to managing pre-existing conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder can be a lot to process; for me personally, it was post-traumatic stress and dissociative identity disorder. The whole experience can be stressful. Symptoms of post-traumatic stress that may be exacerbated by divorce include but are not limited to negative thinking, suicidal ideation, hypervigilance, irritability, self-destructive behaviors, social isolation, flashbacks, fear, anxiety, mistrust, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt, loneliness, insomnia, nightmares, and emotional detachment. These symptoms can come about even without a formal mental health diagnosis; people with histories of trauma are........