From WebMD: Couples going through a divorce may see their mental well-being deteriorate -- especially if they are having angry exchanges and other conflicts, a new study shows.

The findings are no surprise, experts said. But the study appears to be the first to capture how married people fare in the midst of a split, rather than after a period of separation.

And overall, both men and women reported poorer physical and mental health than the norm for the general population. That was particularly true if their divorce was messy -- involving fights over kids, hostile communication or other conflicts.

That's not to say that divorce, alone, took the toll on people's well-being.

"Divorce is often understood as a process, where the judicial divorce is one part," said lead researcher Gert Martin Hald, an associate professor of public health at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

So the mental-health fallout of divorce is also the result of the "prolonged experience of relationship distress" that led to the breakup, Hald said.

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