Just as your divorce will force you to make many adjustments, your child will also need to make many adjustments and face emotional challenges. According to the Association of Marriage and Family Counseling, most children will acclimate and weather through the changes your divorce makes in their lives, but another 25 percent will have ongoing emotional and behavioral difficulties throughout their life if they are not properly treated.
In this blog, our attorneys have included a list of early warning signs your child might be emotionally stressed by your divorce. If you notice these traits in your child, you might want to consider post-divorce therapy.
- Frequent night terrors: The occasional nightmare is all right, but if your child comes downstairs in almost every morning recounting night terrors or nightmares, they had the night before, it could be a sign they are upset about something, and they haven’t quite processed that anger, frustration or fear yet.
- Anxiety: The development of anxiety that interferes with your child’s ability to function in his or her daily life could be an early warning sigh they are stressed. Does your child have a fear of being away from you? Do they experience anxiety attacks?
- Refusing to spend time with a parent: Your child may feel the need to take sides during your divorce. This feeling could lead them refusing to spend time with one of their parents.
- Regressed anger: This type of anger could manifest in a five-year-old child wetting the bed or a 15-year-old teenager not leaving the house for more than a few hours at a time.
- Extended periods of sadness: If your child has gone through a period of sadness or anger that they just can’t seem to shake, they could be suffering from clinical depression.
- Increase in complaints such as headaches or stomachaches: Headaches, stomachaches and allergy like symptoms are often the body’s physical manifestation of stress.
Get legal help from a compassionate attorney. Contact Coker, Robb & Cannon, Family Lawyers! (940) 293-2313