Whether in Toronto or Tehran, divorce is universally recognized as one of life’s most destabilizing transitions, often ranked alongside the death of a relative. Beyond the legal and financial complexities, divorcing spouses frequently experience physical and psychological fallout: anxiety, sleep disturbance, gastrointestinal problems and depression. These psychosomatic symptoms can impair decision-making, exacerbate conflict, and lengthen proceedings – adding to the burden on both clients and their lawyers.
Family Mediator/Arbitrators like me witness this daily. Clients often arrive overwhelmed by fear, insecurity, anger, abandonment, and many other debilitating emotions rushing through them. Their legal problems often cannot be resolved because their stress level is so high. Legal remedies for parenting, support and property division are often confounded by the broader toll divorce takes on their mental health.
A 2025 peer-reviewed study published in the Iranian ‘Shahroud Journal of Medical Sciences’ directly examined whether targeted psychotherapy could alter this trajectory. 30 couples in the midst of divorce proceedings in Iran’s courts were randomly recruited for the study. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two intervention groups:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): a structured, evidence-based approach focusing on identifying and reshaping negative thought patterns and maladaptive behaviours;
- Structural Family Therapy (SFT): rooted in Salvador Minuchin’s model, emphasizing family systems, boundaries, and interactional patterns.
Each group completed 8 sessions, with health and quality-of-life outcomes measured before and after treatment.
The results were striking. Both CBT and SFT produced statistically significant improvements in the participants’ general health, quality of life, and psychosomatic symptoms. Notably, the study found no significant difference between the two approaches – demonstrating that either can serve as a powerful therapeutic intervention for divorcing couples.
The implications for Family Mediator/Arbitrators like me is that divorce is not solely a legal event; it is also a profound mental health event and the consequences of trauma and stress, if left unaddressed, will undermine my clients’ ability to engage productively in Mediation/Arbitration.
Mental-health interventions like CBT and SFT provide my clients with improved emotional regulation, reduced reactivity, lower proclivity for conflict, greater resilience, better focus on long-term outcomes for their children and, most importantly, clarity and objective decision-making – all leading to earlier and less-expensive settlements.
I, for one, encourage my clients to retain a therapist or Divorce Coach so that they can achieve a faster, smoother, less-adversarial and successful divorce settlement .
For lawyers and Family Mediator/Arbitrators, the implications are clear: clients who are supported psychologically are better equipped to engage legally. By recognizing the intersection of law and health, and by encouraging therapeutic interventions, spouses can transform their divorce from a destructive process into a managed transition – one that preserves both rights and well-being.
This Iranian study highlights the need for greater collaboration between legal and mental health professions. Just as we partner with parenting experts, financial experts, appraisers, actuaries, or real estate professionals to resolve complex family law disputes, so too can our clients benefit from aligning with therapists and Divorce Coaches.
LINK: https://sjms.shmu.ac.ir/index.php/ijhs/article/view/1125
Steve Benmor, B.Sc., LL.B., LL.M. (Family Law), C.S., Cert.F.Med., C.Arb., FDRP PC, is the founder and principal lawyer of Benmor Family Law Group, a boutique matrimonial law firm in downtown Toronto. He is a Certified Specialist in Family Law, a Certified Specialist in Parenting Coordination and was admitted as a Fellow to the prestigious International Academy of Family Lawyers. Steve is regularly retained as a Divorce Mediator/Arbitrator and Parenting Coordinator. Steve uses his 30 years of in-depth knowledge of family law, court-room experience and expert problem-solving skills in Divorce Mediation/Arbitration to help spouses reach fair, fast and cooperative divorce settlements without the financial losses, emotional costs and lengthy delays from divorce court.
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