Couples Counseling
There are many ways to betray.
Couples in Conflict
Let’s start with outright betrayal. When an affair has occurred, your relationship has essentially had a heart attack.
Often the betrayed partner feels an urgent sense of neediness, inadequacy, and questions their ability to trust at all. They feel sad, angry, and resentful of the betraying partner who “got to scratch their itch.” Know that the grief and anger over the lost relationship has to have room to breathe and grow into something new in order to recover.
The partner who betrayed may have felt trapped, or simply bored. (Check out the video below.) Unpacking their state of mind is critical to moving forward. Frankly there are more ways to betray our partners than having an affair, like undisclosed spending habits, an imbalance in household labor, parenting issues, and most often–disrespect of the other.
Get professional help with these communication issues. It is essential to have a seasoned professional and neutral observer to move through this rupture with any success, whatever success looks like to you.
Can you do relationship therapy by yourself?
Yes, and there are several solid reasons to do so. The first of which is that you can make positive changes in your relationship once you learn how.
- Learn how to behave differently to promote lasting change in a partner.
- Notice which approaches work, and which do not, with your partner.
- Know how to talk effectively so that your partner will listen. The goal is to be honest and authentic, but not hurtful.
