Support groups can be very helpful for newly separated or divorced people. Suffering alone in silence makes the pain and suffering of divorce worse. No one should be too proud to ask for help. Divorce, even when it is well managed, is very hard on children. A counselor can be very helpful for both parent and child.

Finding the right counselor or therapist is not difficult. Clergy, doctors, and lawyers are professionals who may be in touch with the right people. Community mental health agencies, family service organizations, college counseling and school services, the YMCA-YWCA, and hospital out-patient clinics are also worth a call.

Divorce turns life upside down because it affects every area of life. More than a marriage goes under in a divorce. Family, friends, relationships, identity, routines -- all are fractured and broken when the waves of divorce break the ship called a marriage. Expectations of the future, finances, self-esteem and self-confidence -- all become so much debris on the high seas of a marital breakup. It’s no wonder that one writer calls divorce "crazy time," and it takes most people a long time to get over. In fact, some people never do.