According to the most recent study on infidelity, 20% of men and 13% of women report having an affair while being married. If your relationship has run into issues with infidelity, it can be difficult to build back the trust you once had.
In this article, we’ll take a look at some essential relationship advice tips for affair recovery. What might seem impossible now, doesn’t necessarily have to mean the end of your relationship. If you and your partner want to try and salvage your relationship, read on to find out everything you need to know about affair recovery.
Why Do Affairs Happen?
There are several reasons why infidelity occurs in relationships. Many psychologists argue that sexual exclusivity isn’t as innate as we would like to think. Polygamy was even quite a common theme in the bible!
Infidelity occurs in happy relationships as well as troubled ones, and several factors can contribute to infidelity, including:
- Lack of affection
- Life cycle changes
- Stressful periods
- Breakdown of communication
- Unaddressed marital problems
- Physical and mental health issues
- Imbalance in the relationship dynamic
One of the best ways to keep infidelity from rearing its ugly head is to maintain open communication about how each partner is feeling in the relationship. Some of these conversations might not be easy, but they are essential for ensuring that each partner is having their needs met and no one feels like they are coming up short.
Moving Forwards After Infidelity
For many relationships, infidelity can mark the end. However, when you have built a life with someone, it can be difficult to let things go. There might be children involved. The affair might be a one-off mistake and something that highlights an underlying issue that needed to be resolved.
For many couples, infidelity is a turning point. But to move forwards after one partner has been responsible for having an affair, several things are paramount for successful affair recovery.
Cease All Contact
This should go without saying, but the very first step to affair recovery is for the guilty partner to stop all communication with the person they’ve had the affair with. Individuals pursue affairs because they flood the brain with feel-good chemicals. Just like any drug, the person will associate that person with a heightened state of being. However, these feel good chemicals are only temporary because the affair relationship is not based on reality but on fantasy.
All communication must be ended so the stage can be set for moving forward. If you find this difficult schedule an individual appointment for counseling.
Be Transparent
Trust is a difficult thing to win back once it has been broken. Secrecy is what allows affairs to occur, so it’s important to put an end to it. It’s important to prove to your partner that there is nothing to hide. So, opening up any social media accounts as well as sharing the details of the affair is crucial for building up trust.
Take Things Slowly
An affair is not something that one can sleep off in a couple of nights. It can take a long time for the relationship to get back on its feet. Things might not feel like they did before the affair, but over time both partners might even find that they develop a new closeness with one another.
Couples Counselling for Affair Recovery
Communication is paramount for affair recovery. It is important to discuss what was happening in the relationship that led to the affair, and each partner’s feelings since the affair. Marriage counseling can help you to rebuild trust and understand the dynamics that set the stage for infidelity.
Remarkably, many couples have reported that recovering from an affair was one of the most difficult things they have ever done but, it also made their relationship healthier than it had ever been!
If your relationship has recently been affected by infidelity, then contact me today to discuss how marriage counseling can help you rebuild your relationship.
