MenuIn the fast pace of modern society, the emotional and physical stress on families has progressively increased. Factors that contribute to emotional and physical stress include:
• The pressures of globalization, the feminization of the workforce, the impact of emerging technologies. In order to keep up, many individuals are require to work at all times (e.g., weekends, nights, vacations, etc.) and from anywhere (e.g., at home, in the bus, in restaurants). The percentage of parents who have a hard time juggling work and family has steadily risen since 1996 and now sits at between 46% and 61%
• The physical stress caused by balancing work and family life adds to our already taxed families. 26% of fathers and 33% of mothers suffer from excessive stress from not having enough time. Researchers have observed physical stress and psychosomatic symptoms among parents suffering from a significant work/family imbalance including hypertension, high serum cholesterol levels, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal disorders, allergies, and migraines.
The emotional and physical stress that results from these situations has harmful consequences on the health of parents and children. This consequently contributes to depression and other mood disorders. Excessive emotional and physical stress undermines the family system by hindering the cognitive, behavioural, and emotional development of children.
These elements of physical stress and situational stressors contribute to a family being unable to cope and often leads to a marriage failing. The phenomenon of a failed relationship in Canada has increased by 600% in the last 30 years.
According to another study, a failed relationship or a divorce usually involves a period of stress, instability, loneliness, hurt feelings, and often hostility. The period of transition after a marriage failing often contributes to health problems.
With the rate of failed relationships on the rise, families going through a legal separation need to know which legal processes they have available to them, and what the impacts of those systems may be on their family.
The choices of legal processes are set out below. They are placed in increasing order from the least stressful to the most stressful, and generally from the least expensive to the most expensive:
DISPUTE RESOLUTION SERVICES
1. One on one negotiation
2. Collaborative law or Mediation
3. Unregulated or traditional negotiation
4. Arbitration
GOING TO COURT
5. Court
In the face of a failed relationship, the stressors of the legal separation add to the stressors that plagued families that have a marriage failing in the first place. How are couples who have a marriage failing able to cope with the added stress of such separation? Would they benefit from using dispute resolution services? There are strategies for saving your health if you are separating.
If you have a marriage failing and are interested in saving your health, it starts with you taking control over your life and choosing not to go to court to resolve your legal separation. Families that can resolve disputes without resorting to court usually suffer less emotional and physical stress.
There are several dispute resolution services that promote a healthy and collaborative approach. Saving your health in separation starts with taking charge of your destiny by choosing from the variety of dispute resolution services Toronto has to offer.
For more information please contact Nathalie Boutet.