This post is from Faith Wilson, MA, LPC, a Houston-based mental health professional.
The divorce process affects not only your personal life, but it also has a major impact on the work environment.
Depression and anxiety are frequently exhibited in the workplace during the divorce process, whether it is the employee or employer, male or female who is involved.
Anxiety and depression can make a person feel profoundly discouraged and helpless. The symptoms of these two significant emotional states impair the day-to-day lives of the individual, whether the initiator or the receiver in the divorce process.
Anxiety can make one feel agitated and overwhelmed by physical illness, such as headaches, pounding heart, or stomach distress.
Some Signs of Depression are:
• Inability to concentrate
• Inability to make decisions
• Irritability with coworkers, clients or customers
• Absenteeism due to illness
Each individual in the workplace brings unique skills, habits and history to work every day, and no matter how private the individual may be, emotions impact everything and everyone with which one’s work is involved.
What can be done to decrease the negative effects of divorce?
Workplace employee assistance programs are helpful in identifying problems and can refer individuals to counseling. Counseling may not prevent the process of divorce, but it can help the individual develop coping skills to move past anxiety and depression.
Anxiety and depression can be minimized when the divorce process is less confrontational. This can be accomplished by selecting the collaborative divorce process. It empowers individuals to make the best possible decisions for themselves and their family, and they are more likely to adhere to agreements because they choose them. The collaborative process offers an opportunity for the couple to divorce with dignity and protect their family, friends and jobs.
