Healing from infidelity trauma is hard, let alone staying together after you got cheated on.
And that’s because cheating can be devastating to a relationship. In fact, it’s one of the most hurtful experiences that anyone can go through.
There’s also a divided view in the mental health community about whether people who are the victims of cheating should stay or leave.
This question comes up often, and it has no definitive answer.
You first must understand why infidelity happens and how it affects you and your partner.
Afterward, you have to learn how to rebuild trust and create an intimate relationship with your partner.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Recommended: 3 Clever Ways To Catch A Cheater
Note: Alexandra is a professional Psychotherapist with specialized knowledge in relationships.
– Worried Lovers
Healing is hard, but not impossible.
The journey through infidelity is one that few couples know how to handle. And that’s because it demands understanding, open communication, and effective coping strategies.
Most of the time, couples can’t deal with it properly or don’t have the necessary skills to go through this ordeal.
And even if infidelity can feel like the most horrible experience in the world, it is not always a sign that your relationship is over.
However, the strategies you use to deal with it will make all the difference in the world.
Ways to heal after being cheated on and stay together
There are 4 ways to achieve your relationship’s healing. and these are:
- Awareness
- Build trust
- Balancing anger and sadness with empathy
- Encourage conversations about the topic.
So let’s go more in-depth:
1. Awareness
Look for the reasons for the infidelity, how it came to be and how it developed over time. There might be more than meets the eye.
Also, find out whether the affair is over or not by gathering evidence of it.
This will help you by not setting yourself up for further disappointment during the healing process, which could make things much worse and harder to fix.
If you don’t know what to do to gather some evidence, there’s an article that may just be what you need. It has some tips and tricks you can use to catch them in the act. You can read it here.
The reason I say that, is because understanding infidelity requires you have an honest, raw, and straightforward conversation about it – with your partner, as well as with other people that may have gone through it.
Shame fuels stigma around infidelity, and that very stigma makes it hard for others to seek help or even admit they have relationship problems.
2. Build trust
The Trust Revival method is one of the best solutions to help you stay together, heal after being cheated on.
Not to mention it’s an evidence-based method that’s proven to bring results even for the most skeptical couples.
The technique is pretty straightforward and essentially comprises three main steps: atonement, attunement, and attachment.
- The first step requires letting all the emotions about the affair come out and managing them intelligently. This part also includes establishing limits and full disclosure.
- The second step is the rebuilding phase, in which you and your partner lay the foundation for a new relationship.
At this point, you must throw away everything you’ve ever known or done in your relationship before and replace those actions with new ones that build and strengthen trust.
- The final step, Full-circle – is to bring the spark back into the bedroom and explore new ways to get close to your partner.
3. Balance the anger and sadness with empathy.
Even if it’s not the first feeling you might be having after being wronged, empathy can bring you benefits as well; not to mention it can further breed forgiveness and kindness, and these are crucial to your well-being.
Put yourself in your partner’s skin and think about the less apparent reasons behind his actions. I promise it will benefit you as well.
However, there’s a place for sorrow and anger, even if you understand your partner’s side and can walk in his shoes.
You can feel both angry and compassionate; you can express your disappointment while still acknowledging your partner’s qualities.
It’s so important that you let yourself feel angry, as it can empower you.
Expressing anger is essential because it doesn’t allow the fuse to ignite easily and make everything blow up!
But it’s equally important not to mask any emotions and not let anger be a stand-in for other feelings you have may be having, like sadness.
4. Encourage conversations about the topic.
There are ways to foster honest conversations, even when dealing with infidelity.
It’s vital that the person who cheated share the information and reasons behind his transgression while also having a high level of self-awareness.
Your partner must feel that the things they’re saying bring you justice and fairness.
But how much information is too much information? It turns out it depends on the couple.
Some people can only move forward once they have the certainty that they know all the nuts and bolts of the affair, others may want to know everything compulsively (with no sense of relief), and some are overwhelmed by knowing too much.
Conversations can go through changes and improvements over time.
The bottom line is, they must always consider the other person, including their limitations and the triggered emotions.
Conclusion
Infidelity is a painful experience that affects many people, and even though it is such a common one, it can leave long-lasting effects on an individual.
Poor mental health after the fact is not uncommon at all.
These problems further foster deeper issues like depression and anxiety, and perhaps even deeper ones if you’re a woman.
When it comes to cheating, I never want to tell people what to do. It’s up to you to decide whether or not to heal and stay together after being cheated on.
The only way to know if your relationship is salvageable is to try to see, through trial and error, if it can overcome the obstacles laid in its path.
One thing I can say: If it can stand on its feet again, it’s a feeling like no other.
Recommended: 3 Clever Ways To Catch A Cheater
