Professional Intervention in Divorce

Abstract

This report summarizes and compares the views of expert groups of lawyers, psychotherapists, and clergy on the divorcing process and the role of the professional in assisting the divorcing. There was considerably greater difference of opinion on these issues among the lawyers than among either the therapists or clergy. Six distinctive lawyer orientations toward the lawyer-client relationship and the lawyer's role in divorce were identified. The existence of such a wide range of lawyer attitudes is attributed to the considerable role strain involved in matrimonial practice. The sources of this strain are delineated. There was high agreement between the therapists and clergy on the psychology of the divorcing experience and the criteria of a constructive divorce. The psychological stress in divorce was attributed to three principal factors: (a) the major social and economic changes resulting from the divorce; (b) the fact that in many divorces only one of the spouses actively desires the divorce; and (c) distress associated with separation and the breakup of an important relationship. The coping response to these stresses is the process of psychic divorce, whose general characteristics and distinctive stages are described. Four major strategies of intervention were discussed by all three groups of professionals: (a) establishing a working alliance; (b) diagnosis and information gathering; (c) improving the emotional climate; and (d) assisting in decisionmaking and planning. Obstacles to effective intervention occur in all of these areas, both as a function of the practical and emotional complexity of the issues and as a result of structural problems inherent in the third-party role.

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