Separation Anxiety 

Sometimes, if a couple is not quite ready to flip a match on the marriage, a trial separation is a good idea. Each party can get some space to think things through, and maybe avoid doing things they'll later regret.

Being away from your spouse may make you realize that you need them to feel whole and happy. Taking that time apart can make you remember how much you love them and want to stay with them. If you and your spouse are fighting, a break may be the solution; we can think more clearly about our anger and our problems when the antagonist isn't right in the next room!

Then again, the separation may just be the gateway to divorce. I know that is an unavoidable result of many separations. But I think that in a lot of those cases, the divorce was probably inevitable anyway and the separation was just a half-assed, last ditch effort. If you are heading to divorce-town anyway, so be it. 

I never had the chance to have a separation. Probably didn't need one; our problems weren't very serious aside from what his family was doing to us. But I know that after not seeing him for a even a few days, I wanted my best friend back so we could go get into trouble together again. What's that famous old saying? "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" (or it can make the heart grow cold, but that's another story). I can easily see how a trial separation could help rebuild a failing relationship.