Advice for couples as divorce rate soars

Mental Health Department director general Squadron Leader Boonruang Triruangworawat said on Monday that 118,539 couples divorced last year.
The percentage of divorces among new marriages rose to 39 per cent from 27 per cent in 2006, he said, warning of the effect divorces can have on the mental health of the children affected.
Boonruang acknowledged that couples and families commonly endure pressure stemming from work-related stress and factors of social and economic status.
He encouraged spouses to communicate positively with one another in dealing with such factors and avoid using words “that will hurt feelings or cause your partner to lose their tempers”. Doing so “can turn a minor problem into a big deal”.
Spouses should, for example, avoid telling each other to shut up or to leave the house, and mustn’t blame recurring problems on each other, make accusations of infidelity, or accuse one another of being a long-term failure.
Boonruang also advised married people to avoid raising their voices and using coarse language with one another. “And don’t attack your partners’ relatives!”
He said a spouse should end an argument the moment he or she realises they’ve become angry.
“Take time to calm down and then start talking again to find a solution,” he said.