Assessment of Mental Health in Divorcing Women Referred to Ardabil Legal Medicine Center

We are witnessing in recent years that the increasing rate of divorce creates a multitude of difficulties for families and communities. Divorce is a threat to mental health and compared to men, women experience more negative effects in stressful situations and the rate of depression among women is twice of that in men. The present study compares mental health of ordinary women and those who are divorcing.
The study was a cross- sectional one and its subjects included 100 divorcing women and 100 ordinary ones. The first group was selected from among women who had requested for divorce and were referred to Ardabil legal Medicine center. The Control group included married women residing in Ardabil with similar socio cultural conditions with no complaints regarding their marital life and no complaints to courts. Data collection was carried out though DASS-21 and Beck scale for suicidal thoughts. And the results were analyzed using SPSS version 16.
Findings: The results revealed a higher average of scores in both tests among the divorcing group than among control group, which was statistically significant (p These findings indicate a higher rate of psychological problems in divorcing women (compared to control group), along with a high rate of depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. Hence, it seems that this group of women need supportive measures and consultation to decrease their anxiety and tension in order to prevent depression and suicide attempts among them, which requires support of families and social welfare organizations.