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"Along with physical illness, separation and divorce put former spouses
at much greater risk for psychiatric illness, especially for men," said
Larson. "Divorced or separated men had 10 times the risk for outpatient
or inpatient psychiatric care. The risk for women increased fivefold,"
he said.
And marriage, like religion, keeps suicide rates down. Suicide is
lowest among the married, perhaps because of the tranquilizing influence
of continuous intimacy. Marriage also inhibits alcohol abuse. A
Canadian survey of 3,430 men revealed the lowest proportion of heavy
drinkers are among the married.
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Researcher J J Lynch, writing in The Broken Heart: The Medical
Consequences of Loneliness, notes that divorced men are twice as
likely to die from heart disease, stroke, hypertension and cancer as
married men in any given year.
Buttressing that research is a 1989 American Demographics report
that stated, "Many studies show that broken marriages create stress,
resulting in weight change, stomach upset, fatigue, appetite loss,
headaches, nervousness, nightmares, difficulty in sleeping, and
tension. No wonder divorced men and women are more likely than the
married to suffer from chronic conditions, acute illnesses and
injuries. And no wonder they are less likely than the married to report
that their health is good or excellent." |
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So the next time you hear how "liberating" divorce is, remember that is
can liberate you right to an earlier grave.
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