This paper is a wide-ranging exploration of the divorce experience, a topic that is notably lacking in the psychoanalytic and family therapy literature. Focus has been on the impact of divorce on children; very little attention has been given to the divorcing person's internal journey and the immense psychological challenges she or he faces. The author explores these, with reference to her own and others' autobiographical writings. A second section of the paper focuses specifically on the therapist's divorce, with discussion of the unique stresses and opportunities this crisis in the therapist's life affords the work for both patients and therapists.