MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS: Family conflicts and the pain children feel By Jeanine Hatt Special to the Herald Democrat The coronavirus pandemic is straining many marriages — some to the breaking point. There are signs that separations and the divorce rate is rising as couples struggle with the emotional and economic fallout of the past year. According an article in WebMD last November, family lawyers surveyed in April and July reported a 25% to 35% increase in requests to start divorce proceedings compared to the same time in 2019. Unfortunately, the family members who are most at risk of being hurt are the children. There are so many times that, during a child’s visit in my pediatric office, I have witnessed a parent criticizing the other parent in front of the child as well as admitting that there are heated arguments at home with the children present. New research warns that kids who see their parents bicker are more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression. Karey O’Hara, research professor of psychology at Arizona State University and her team interviewed 560 children between ages 9 and 18 yrs., whose parents were separating, asking about how frequent and intense the conflict was, how often one parent said bad things about the other and how often they felt caught in the middle.