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Divorce And Madness

Just as there are 30 million steps on the Great Wall of China, there are infinite ways in which mental illness can affect a marriage, a divorce proceeding, and a post-judgment co-parenting relationship.

Marriage and family law isstill working to better take mental illness into consideration when fashioning court orders. As anyone who has ever read or watched a screen adaptation of Jane Eyre or Hamlet knows, mental illness can have tragic implications and consequences for all who come into contact with it.

On the one hand, society expects us to care and provide for family members born with psychological/psychiatric impairments or stricken with mental illness. On the other hand, the root causes and potential manifestations of mental illness are, despite best efforts, poorly understood even by expert clinicians and social workers.

In the Victorian period, out of which emerged the now largely-discredited but hugely influential psychoanalytic theories of Freud, women were largely considered as subject to hysteria by their very nature. By the same token, men were often exculpated for “crimes of passion” committed under the influence of alcohol, rivalry in love or pressure at work. As society has continued to evolve to study and collect information/data on the subject, those gender assignments of old have changed, wherein it is now recognized that mental illness and/or disorders are not necessarily gender specific.

The law tends to be quite conservative in how it regards the rights and responsibilities of spouses and parents. Disclosure in court that a person is taking lithium or Haldol or Keppra may be prejudicial against a party opening a pandora’s box into custody evaluations, and psychological/psychiatric evaluations that could affect custodial or visitation rights.

Divorce trials are not for the weak at heart. Personal and private things are said, and baseless allegations are sometimes thrown up by a spouse for strategic advantage. It is not uncommon to hear of a divorcing person becoming addicted to palliatives such as alcohol and prescription painkillers. Just as tragic are situations where a person goes off their meds because of financial constraints aggravated by divorce.

It is a truth almost universally conceded that anyone going through a divorce needs emotional support and perhaps intensive psychological counseling. It is also true that the kind of professional help most useful during a divorce proceeding is high-quality legal advice.

Hirsch Legal, LLC, based in Shelton, Connecticut, should be your first stop when facing issues related to divorce and child custody. Our principal attorney, Carmina Hirsch, has helped hundreds of clients navigate through the treacherous waters of Family Court proceedings. When necessary, she’ll help you keep your case out of the criminal courts by getting appropriate restraining ordersprotecting you and your children from a harmful spouse. She can help make sure that insurance coverage is maintained for you or your spouse or your child who needs ongoing psychiatric treatment or psychological counseling.

Legal consultations are confidential, whether you end up hiring us or not. If you live in Fairfield County or New Haven Count (cities such as Bridgeport, Westport, Milford, Waterbury, Danbury and Stamford) it is well worth the effort to contact our office in Shelton to schedule your consultation and initial meeting. Call now!

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