Infidelity Articles By Katie Lersch

No matter what the status of your mental health or thought process was before your husband’s affair, chances are you are going to notice significant changes after it. One example that some wives experience is obsessive thinking or intrusive negative thoughts.

A wife might explain, “I’ve always been pretty strong mentally, but since I have been struggling to come to terms with my husband’s affair, my thought process concerns me. I have been having what I believe are obsessive thoughts. I saw my husband with the other woman. Between this and other bits and pieces of information that I have pried out of my husband, I have developed mental images of the affair. Honestly, I don’t even know if these images are accurate, but I can’t get them out of my head. For example, I will be sitting at breakfast and all of a sudden, I will think about the tennis shoes the other woman was wearing when I saw her. Then for probably an hour after this, I will continue to dwell on those shoes. Sometimes, the images are not even focused on her or my husband. Last night, I saw images of myself in the future. I was alone and sad. I looked haggard. So for several hours afterward, I dwelled on that sorry thought. Once these images invade, I become very unproductive. I can think of little else. Then I start going over the affair again. Or I ask my husband the same old questions. How can I stop these obsessive thoughts? Is this normal?”

I believe that it is totally normal. I had similar thoughts. I believe that many faithful wives go through this. I am not a counselor. And I would encourage you to see one if it would help. But I will share what helped me to move past the intrusive thoughts.

Acknowledge Them: Your first instinct may be to try to turn the thoughts off or to deny their existence. After all, these ruminations have negative consequences that can range from mild to debilitating. Worse, they are often are paired with painful self-judgments. However, pretending that they don’t exist isn’t effective, either. The harder you try to deny them, the stronger they become. So, acknowledge them, but know that the thoughts themselves have no real consequences until you react to them.

Write Them Down And Look For Patterns: It would be wonderful if we could stop the thoughts in their tracks. But, as you’ve seen, you can’t. You have no control over how or when the thoughts will make their presence known. However, what you can control is your reaction to them. Rather than just spinning your wheels and being very unproductive after receiving them, start writing them down. This is more effective than trying to chase them away. Then try to find clues for what you’re truly worried about. For example, the shoes and the images of you alone might show that you’re worried the other woman or the affair will take away your bright future. When you see patterns, you’ve identified an area you still need to work through.

Address Your True Worries: Once you’ve found the patterns discussed above and you have a good handle on what’s really worrying you, challenge everything. Using the example above, who says the affair means you can’t have a bright future? You are not divorced. You may well heal your marriage. And even if you don’t, who says that you will be alone? The future may hold many wonderful surprises for you. If you’re feeling that the other woman has some attributes that you don’t, challenge this assumption. No one is perfect. Every human being has challenges and flaws. The other woman is no exception. Besides, you have no control whatsoever over her attributes or flaws. But, you have complete control over your own, which leads me to my next point.

Turn Negative, Obsessive Thoughts Into Positive, Targeted Actions: Once I got very tired of my own intrusive thoughts, I made a rule for myself. For every negative thought, I would take positive action. I learned to use negative thoughts as a call to get up and do something. So I was able to flip the script. Instead of dreading the thoughts, I began to see them as a call for self-care or self-improvement. Sometimes I would go for a run when the thoughts hit me hard. Or I’d call a friend and get out of the house. Do whatever is necessary to take positive action to stop the cycle of negativity.

Learn To Focus Your Mind: With practice, you can learn to focus on alternative thoughts. I still stink at meditation. However, I have learned to respond by bringing my mind back to the positive. Yes, I have to constantly re-direct myself. But this is better than just allowing the obsessive thoughts to take over. There are countless wonderful and free meditation apps. Try a couple the next time the thoughts show up.

Know That The Thoughts Are Likely Temporary: It may help to know that I rarely have intrusive thoughts anymore. As I healed, they showed up less and less. When the affair is fresh, your brain is struggling to make sense of it all and may go into overdrive. However, as you heal and begin to put much of the fallout behind you, your brain, and the obsessive thoughts, should calm down.

If you need more reassurance, you can read my blog about how I healed after my husband’s affair here: http://surviving-the-affair.com

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Many maladies can crop up after your husband has an affair. Some are expected, like the loss of self-esteem and trust. And others are both unexpected and unwelcome, like the loss of sleep.

Someone might say, “I’ve always been a fantastic sleeper. My husband is an insomniac, but I am not. I typically sleep the second my head hits the pillow. I remain that way for seven to eight hours. However, since my husband’s affair, I don’t sleep well. Some nights, I can’t fall asleep at all. Other nights, I will fall asleep relatively quickly, but I will wake up at 3 a.m. and can’t fall back. At first, I thought this was just a fluke, but it’s now been three weeks. The lack of sleep is affecting my performance and emotions. It’s not like I’m thinking about the affair every time I try to sleep, so why is this happening? And what can I do about?”

I am not a sleep specialist, but I know a good deal about this topic because I am a life-long off and on insomniac. So I know that our circumstances most defintely affect our sleep, at least mine do.  And, after my husband’s affair, my sleep worsened for a while. In my experience, any emotional stressor can affect your sleep, even if you aren’t thinking about it at bedtime. Here are some things that I have learned along the way that I hope will help you.

Make Sure You Have An Emotional Outlet: It’s extremely important to be able to release troublesome emotions right now. Some people use a therapist or self-help. Others journal or unload on a trusted friend. However you do it, make sure you are letting your emotions go on a regular basis.

Practice Good Sleep Hygiene: Even good sleepers should practice good sleep hygiene by conducting no business in your bed other than sleeping or sex. This means no TV watching, computer use, eating, or other non-sexual activities in bed. I do make an exception for reading because this actually induces sleep for me. I know that sleep hygiene may seem drastic, but it actually trains your brain to associate your bed with sleep.

Try To Soothe Your Way Into Bedtime: For many people, it is very important to create soothing bedtime rituals. I sleep much better if I wind down before bed by reading or doing crafts. I have to be careful to choose non-fiction books that aren’t too exciting and crafts that are not too stimulating. I realize that as a sound sleeper, you’ve probably never had to establish a bedtime ritual before. But when you need your sleep, it doesn’t hurt to try a soothing ritual or two. Some people respond well to baths, meditation, white noise, or turning off all artificial light half an hour before bed.

Don’t Watch The Clock Or Panic When Things Don’t Go As Planned: I once told a doctor that I was certain I was lying awake for up to six hours every night. The doctor told me this was very unlikely and challenged me to go home, lay on my bed, and stay awake for six hours. I couldn’t. We often get more sleep than we think, even if our body is resting and going in and out of slumber. And when we lay in bed worrying about the sleep we aren’t getting, we’re just making things worse. I never look at my alarm clock if I wake in the middle of the night. If I do, I will never return to sleep. Instead, I give myself a few minutes to settle. If I can’t go back to sleep, I read again until I can. I’ve learned that if I remain calm, I have a much better chance of sleeping again or having a decent day tomorrow, despite my sleep deprivation.

Add Morning Exercise: I have found that if I exhaust myself physically, I have a much higher chance of shutting down mentally and sleeping soundly. However, through trial and error, I have learned that working out at night is too stimulating. I have had some success with nighttime yoga, but I save heavy workouts for the morning. They really help with sleep. Experiment with an exercise schedule that enhances your sleep.

Try Waking Up Earlier Or Going To Bed Later: If I have a really bad sleep run, I will wake up earlier or go to bed later to try to encourage more straight hours of sleep. For example, if my main issue is broken sleep, I’ve found that I’m better off going to sleep two hours later and sleeping straight through rather than waking up in the middle of the night and lying awake. Experiment to see which way you feel more refreshed.

Make Sure You Are Making Progress After The Affair: A sense of hopelessness can also affect your sleep. It’s normal to feel hopeless in the beginning, but after some time you should feel as if you are least making personal progress, even if your marriage is still up in the air. Having steady improvement allows you to feel hope again, which makes it easier to lay your head on the pillow and let everything go long enough to rest.

Know That This Is Likely Temporary: I can’t lie. I still have insomnia from time to time even when my personal life is fantastic. Sometimes, there is no particular reason for my poor sleep, but it usually resolves itself quickly. Thankfully, the sleeping drought I had after my husband’s affair ended as I began to heal. I am not unique in this. Improvement eventually happens for many wives in this situation.

So take some comfort in knowing that this likely won’t last forever. And when sleep doesn’t come, just try to be gentle with yourself. Sip warm tea. Take a bath. Use a dim reading night light and read self-help or uplifting non-fiction. This sleep issue will likely end. I learned the hard way that frustration only makes it worse. So try to cope with positivity until improvement arrives. If it helps, you can read about my after-the-affair healing (and know it’s possible for you also) at http://surviving-the-affair.com

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The topic of what questions to ask a cheating husband comes up very often. Many wives feel like they are asking the same questions over and again after a husband’s affair. This cycle is a problem for a couple of reasons. Sometimes, the wives continue to inquire because their husband isn’t addressing what they really want to know. So, this article is meant to list the questions which I believe are the most vital. Hopefully, if you are a wife dealing with an unfaithful husband, getting these questions answered will give you a very firm understanding of what has happened and of where you stand right now. That way, you won’t feel like you are repeating yourself and your husband won’t feel as if you are just harassing him since you’re asking some variation on the same questions.

1. Is The Affair Over? What Is He Willing To Do To Prove This?: This is the most important question. Because if the affair is not over, then the only healing that can happen is your own self-healing. You can’t begin to repair your marriage if the affair is ongoing. Since no one wants to waste their time trying to accomplish the impossible, you need to know for sure that it is 100% over. However, it’s understandable that you would not take him at his word since he deceived you by having an affair. That’s why his next set of answers should be to clarify how he will prove that it’s over. Will he come straight home from work? Will he give you access to his phone, social media and emails? Clarify what you need from him and then ask him directly if he will meet these needs.

2. What Does He Want To Happen In The Short Term?: It’s important to understand his immediate wishes. Does he know if he wants to stay in your home? Is he open to saving the marriage if it is possible? Is he not thinking this far ahead? By asking him what he wants in the near-term, he’s forced to lay out his preferred next steps, which allows you to consider if his next-steps match yours. Once you agree on the short-term plans, it’s easier to clarify your long-term plans.

3. Is He Willing To Speak Honestly And To Go To Counseling Or Use Self-Help?: Once you have a better idea of whether it is a good idea to move forward, you need to understand how serious he is about rehabilitating your marriage. Good intentions are not enough after an affair. In order for you to ever trust him again, you need to be confident that you both understand why this happened so that you can avoid it in the future. This is very difficult to accomplish unless he is willing to get very honest with himself and with you. Typically, counseling or very good self-help will help this process move much more quickly. His commitment to either of these is a good sign. It’s not that uncommon to save your marriage after an affair, but IT CAN be uncommon to be truly happy without a nudge.

4. Will He Tell You What Happened From Start To Finish?: You need to know the whole story. He needs to be honest about: how he met her; how the affair started; how long it lasted; how he carried it out; what sorts of feelings were involved; and why it ended. Yes, the answers to these questions will be painful for both of you. However, you need this information so you know what you must overcome. This information will also help you identify future warning signs.

5. Will He Take Responsibility For His Actions?: Everyone knows that the reasons for an affair are complex. There are likely multiple contributing factors that caused the affair. However, no one forced your husband to cheat. He alone took that action. Is he willing to own up to that without excuses?

6. Will He Commit To Having Patience?: Affair recovery can be a painful process that isn’t linear. You may make progress only to regress later. You will have good and bad days. You will have anger, frustration, and confusion that is directed at your husband. He must be patient to deal with these challenges. Is he willing?

7. Will He Check The Health Of Your Marriage In The Future?: One critical aspect of trust is knowing that when your husband feels vulnerabilities in your marriage, he will give you the opportunity to address these issues before he cheats. This is an ongoing process that takes determination and attentiveness.

8. Will He Reassure You Even When You Push Him Away?: A husband who wants to rehabilitate his marriage needs determination. There will be days when you push him away to test him, even when you don’t mean to. You’re looking for him to fight for you at a time when you’re not at your best. Is he up for that?

9. Will He Built You Up As You Rebuild Your Self-Esteem?: No matter how confident you were going into this, most of us take a hit in self-confidence. We must do some self-work and confidence-building to get our swagger back. The last thing we need is a husband who questions or thwarts this. You need to know that he is okay with whatever is necessary in this regard. A husband who loves you wants you to feel fantastic about yourself.

10. Is There Anything Else?: I know this question is vague, but a husband knows when he has withheld an important detail. If such a detail exists, you need to know about it. So this last question is meant to help you avoid landmines that might sideline your recovery in the future. It is better to deal with them now than to find out about them later.

As someone who has recovered from an affair, these are the questions that I feel are most important, although everyone’s situation is different.  Ask the questions that are important to you. It is better to ask than to make up your own answers.  You can read about my own recovery at http://surviving-the-affair.com

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Many wives who catch their husband cheating assume that he is going to panic. After all, he has been caught in a deplorable act. And he very likely has an awful lot to lose, such as his marriage, his image, and his finances. So it’s a reasonable assumption that a man in this position will immediately scramble to fight for his wife and for his marriage. But what if he doesn’t? Does this say anything about him, about his feelings for his wife, or about his attitude toward his marriage?

A wife might explain a situation like this, “I feel like an idiot, but I did not even suspect my husband of cheating. I thought we’d been having a wonderful year. I wasn’t trying to catch him, but unfortunately, I did. Immediately afterward, he asked for assurances that I wasn’t going anywhere. I promised that I would not make an immediate decision, but I insisted that I could not make any long term promises. I explained that I needed to evaluate the depth of his deception, his feelings for the other woman, and the state of our marriage. I thought I made it pretty clear that I needed to see him take the initiative so that I would want to stay in our marriage. But he hasn’t done a thing. Sure, he tiptoes around the house. He tries to be kind to me. But that’s about it. He mentioned counseling initially but he hasn’t taken any steps to find a counselor. He’s not overly affectionate to me. When I ask him if he still loves me or wants our marriage, he says yes. But he is not acting like a man who is desperate to keep his wife. When my friend caught her husband cheating, he could not do enough for her. He was desperate to win her back. My husband isn’t acting the same way. I don’t see him fighting for me and I can’t understand why. He says he wants our life together. He hasn’t left. But his behavior doesn’t match his claims. Why isn’t he fighting for me?”

I completely understand why you want to see some strong emotions from your husband. It would be nice to see him express some passion in his fight to keep you, since you may be imagining that he also expressed passion toward her. At least this is how I felt after my own husband’s affair. However, he may feel reluctant to show his feelings right now. And this may not have anything to do with his stance toward you or your marriage. Below, I will list some common reasons why men hang back rather than fighting for their wife or their marriage after an affair.

He’s Afraid Of Rejection: Your husband knows that he made a grave mistake. He sees the pain in your eyes and the anger in your posture. He knows that he disappointed you. So it’s somewhat understandable if he is reluctant to make a huge display of desperation or pursuit. He knows that you’d be justified in rejecting him. And he may not feel up for that right now.

He’s Waiting For A Hint About Whether You Want Him To Pursue You: Understandably, you promised your husband that you wouldn’t leave immediately, but your future is still in the air. Therefore, he may be unsure of your feelings for him. He may worry that you want a separation or divorce. And if that is the case, what would be the point of chasing you? So, he may be waiting for more information from you before he takes any action.

He Could Be Waiting For Your Anger To Fade: It is human nature to want to protect ourselves against harm or pain. Your husband may be planning to let a little time pass before he makes any moves. That way, things may calm down some and you may be a little less angry and a bit more receptive.

He May Feel Undeserving: I’ve dialogued with husbands in this situation and many of them feel unworthy of their wife’s acceptance and affection. He may want to fight for you, but he doesn’t feel that he has the right. He may believe that the most respectful and kind thing to do for you is to wait for you to decide how you want to move forward.  After that, only if you give you him the green light will he then chase you. Many men worry about looking like a handsy creep when he tries to put the moves on his wife after he has been with another woman.

How To Approach Him If You Want Him To Fight For You: In light of the above, if you still want to see him show strong emotions or fight for you, then you may need to give him a nudge. Or you may want to have a direct conversation. The next time you ask him if he is still invested in the marriage and he says yes, try a response like, “well, your behavior doesn’t mesh with this. You haven’t taken any initiative about counseling. You don’t make any attempts to show you me real affection. My perception is that you aren’t acting like a man who is pursuing his marriage and his wife. Am I reading you wrong? Because this is how it feels to me.”

His response should give you important information. He may tell you that he’s wanted to pursue you more vigorously, but he was reluctant because of fear or unworthiness. Or he may tell you something completely different. Remain calm and listen very carefully to what he has to say. Then, if you want to encourage him to be more affectionate and forthcoming, say so. Tell him that affection and pursuit would make you feel more reassured about his commitment to you, even after the affair.

Unfortunately, sometimes if we want or need for our husband to provide something that will help in healing, we have to spell it out. I had to do this plenty of times with my own husband. But it was worth it because I eventually got what I needed and we are still married today. You can read the whole story at http://surviving-the-affair.com

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Any wife who has ever dealt with infidelity or an affair knows that the repercussions may not be only temporary. Sure, you may be bombarded with shock, grief, anger, and outrage from the get-go, but you may be surprised to learn that some of these things follow you or morph into something else. Because of this, many wives worry that they will never truly move on.

A wife might ask, “I wonder which is going to be worse, the short or long term consequences of my husband’s affair. I know that today, I just feel shell-shocked. I cannot believe that this is my life. I thought that I had a decent marriage and that I’d married a good man. Turns out I have a liar and cheater. Yes, he says and does all the right things but I do not trust him. And I worry that I’m not as attractive as I used to be. So thanks to him, I now doubt myself. I know that these are the short-term consequences and they are bad enough, but now I worry that I will end up as one of those bitter, old women who believe that the whole world is out to get them. I don’t want this. Which is worse, the short or long term consequences of an affair?

I’m sure it is different for everyone and I can certainly share my own experience. But first, I’ll list what I think are the most common short and long term consequences of an affair. Then I’ll tell you which I believe are worse. And I’ll offer tips on how to avoid them.

The Short Term Consequences Of An Affair: The wife above had a pretty good handle of common short term effects of infidelity. But I believe that you can categorize them into two big categories – fear and doubt. Under the category of fear, you have things like a loss of self-esteem, overwhelming anger, and deep sadness. Under the category of doubt, you’ll find things like lack of trust, disbelief, and a struggle to know what is real right now. In short, an affair shakes your perception of reality. You question everything. Was your marriage a lie? Did he never love you? Does he not love you now? Is he a liar who should never be trusted? Was he always? Can you be trusted to know what is true in the future? Do you even want to try?

These reactions are normal. Other than ignoring your feelings, I’m not sure how you avoid them. However, when they do emerge, you have a choice as to how you respond to them. You can react to the fear with panic. Or you can sit with it for a while, evaluate it, and then find a positive way to move past it.

The Long Term Consequences Of Affair: The long term aftermath of an affair is much harder to quantify. Some couples work very hard and/or obtain excellent help so that they heal. Some will even tell you that their marriage is stronger than ever. However, I would never tell you that you’ll one day completely forget the affair. Or be completely fine with it. I do consider myself healed, but every once in a while, a memory or a negative feeling will emerge. This shift causes me to take stock of my life and my marriage. Sometimes, it’s easy to identify the trigger. Other times, there seems to be no particular reason for it. However, I am able to move past these occurrences because I know that we have both done the work to truly move past this. I have also decided not to live my life in fear because I know that I will survive no matter what comes up. So it doesn’t make sense to continue to be damaged by something that we have worked so hard to put behind us.  Why willingly allow the trauma to continue?

However, I know that many wives have different experiences. Some no longer trust men. Others divorce and never want to remarry. Still others remain married but are miserable and never allow their husband to forget. This means that both spouses continue to struggle with the fallout of an affair that was over long ago. Some men cheat again because they never completed rehabilitation. Or the same issues that lead to the affair were never resolved.

Some wives never relinquish the doubt, fear, and bitterness that emerged immediately after the affair so that the short term consequences simply continue. In this case, one or both spouses can grow very tired of living this way.

I believe that the more severe of these long term consequences (continued bitterness, distrust, and self-doubt) are the worst of the bunch. Why? Because you’re still being punished for something that was never your fault. You should not have to carry this heavy burden for the rest of your life.

How To Avoid The Worst Consequences: I believe that the way to avoid these burdens is to relentlessly pursue healing. Even if you are unsure about your husband or your marriage, you deserve to be emotionally healthy and at peace. If he won’t pursue help, please take the initiative to get it on your own. Professional help is the gold standard, but there is plenty of excellent self-help available. You deserve to let this go.

Life can and does go on after an affair. And if you are willing to do the work and let go of emotions that do not serve you, life can actually be pretty sweet. You’re welcome to read about my own healing process at http://surviving-the-affair.com

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If you are a wife who is dealing with the aftermath of an affair, it’s probably safe to assume that your self-esteem has taken a hit. Your husband’s choice to be with someone other than you hurts, even if it was only temporary or in secret. You may intellectually know that you are beautiful, smart, and accomplished, but most wives end up doubting themselves, at least somewhat.

As much as we tear ourselves down, we tend to build the other woman up. We will often give her attributes that she may not even have. We’ll assume that she has some magical allure over our husband, from which he can’t seem to break away. Strangely, some of us assume this even when our husband hasn’t shown any inclination to stay in contact with her. He has broken it off, says he wants to save the marriage, and claims to be willing to do whatever is necessary to regain your trust. Still, you just can’t shake the fear that he would go back to her if he could.

A wife might explain, “honestly, the woman who my husband cheated with isn’t all that special to look at. I’ve looked her up on social media. She is just average. What she does seem to have, however, is a ridiculous amount of confidence and exhibitionism. Perhaps this lured my husband to her. I’m pretty shy and reserved. I perceive that her personality is the opposite of mine. My husband tells me that none of this is true. He says he loves me and that I am who he wants. To my knowledge, he is not in contact with her and he’s been reasonably attentive to me. He has offered to go to couple’s counseling. On the surface, he seems to be doing everything right. So why can’t I stop thinking that he would go back to her if he could? Why do I think that if he had never gotten caught, he’d still be with her? I can’t shake the idea that if a divorce wouldn’t cost him, he’d give into his feelings of still wanting her.”

What Is Behind These Suspicions: What you are feeling is very common. You don’t trust his claims of being over the affair or wanting to be with you because he was not truthful while he was cheating. And he has some powerful motivations to remain married.

Why The Affair Has To Do Less With Her (And You) Than You Believe: I want you to understand something that I completely believe is both true and very important. A man’s affair often has everything to do with the man and his own personal and internal struggles and very little to do with the women involved – the other woman and the wife.

I know it’s easy to think that you are faulty and she is alluring. But this is very likely untrue. Yes, he may have THOUGHT that she was alluring because he was seeking an escape from his personal struggles through her. So he tried to quiet his issues by building her or the relationship up. These sorts of mind tricks make the cheating possible to carry out. This is why men can initially think that they’ve developed feelings for the other woman but promptly realize that they were wrong once they seek counseling or begin to fix their personal, individual issues.

How To Move Past This: Even when you know and understand these truths, you can still worry that he secretly wants her. I only know a few effective remedies for this: time, healing your marriage, and rebuilding your self-esteem.

In time, you will see that he remains with you and has never looked back. Unfortunately, you can’t hurry this part of the process. But in the meantime, you can attempt to strengthen your marriage and rebuild the trust. When you and your husband are re-connected and firing on all cylinders, you will be more confident that he has no reason to look elsewhere. It is also very important for both you and your husband to do self-work. He needs it to fix whatever personal issues lead to his cheating. And your self-work will help you restore your self-esteem and prioritize yourself.

I have been covering affairs for quite some time. In my observation, if a husband really wants to continue to be with the other woman, he will find a way and you will discover this soon enough. If time goes by and he has not resumed contact or gone back to her and is continuing to stand by you, then continuing to fear the worst does no good. It just means that you experience pain that is likely unnecessary and premature. It means that you may be doubting your husband when you don’t need to.

Your fears are normal, but they don’t serve you. Focus on yourself, on your own well-being, and on regaining what you lost. Control what you can. And know that statistics are on your side. Most marriages survive affairs. However, not all of these surviving marriages are as happy as we want them to be. Continuing to dwell on the other woman is one thing that can definitely cut into your happiness. So try to focus on those things that bring you relief, peace, and eventually, joy. The rest has no place in your life right now. You’re dealing with enough without continuing to allow worries about her into your life. You can read about my own healing process after my husband’s affair here: http://surviving-the-affair.com

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It’s natural to have countless questions after you learn that your spouse has had an affair. Why did he do this? How did he hide it from you? Is he remorseful? Will he do it again? Does he have a character flaw that means he can’t be faithful? Was this your fault? What can you do to ensure that this doesn’t happen again? Do you even want to save your marriage?

These questions are just the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, sometimes when your husband attempts to answer one question, this new information will inspire even more questions. You might find yourself analyzing your husband’s psyche and his behavior. Or your analysis may turn toward your marriage and yourself. Needless to say, this process can become quite exhausting. Your husband may openly bristle at your constant attempt to find the answers to questions that he’s repeatedly addressed. As a result, he may tell you that you are overanalyzing things.

A wife might explain, “I admit that I am constantly examining my husband’s behavior and his answers to my questions. Although I learned about the affair over two months ago, I still constantly ask him questions. Sometimes, I ask him the same questions over and over again. I do this for a couple of reasons. First, I have caught him in lies this way. Second, I’m not always satisfied with the answers that he gives me. So I’m trying to give him a second chance to get his answer right. For example, he will often describe the reasons for his affair in very vague terms, almost like an alien took over his body or something. He makes it sound as if he doesn’t really know exactly why he cheated. Who has so little self-awareness? We went to counseling for a while, but that has tapered off. My husband feels that all the talking just meant that we were going in circles and that we were overanalyzing the affair. Is there such a thing? I didn’t like our counselor either, but I have no problem with getting to the bottom of why this happened.”

The Danger Of Being Unable To Move On: I know that my answer might be surprising since I am also a wife who has dealt with an affair. But I DO think it is possible to overanalyze the affair, although I would never discourage counseling. Here is why: I see so many wives who say that they so badly want to move on from the affair. But for whatever reason, they end up ruminating instead. We have all done this. It’s so easy to continue to ask the same old questions. It’s so easy to read psychology books and articles about serial cheaters or narcissists and then wonder if our husband fits that mold even if he’d been a good husband before one mistake.

Perhaps more importantly, I do not believe that it is possible to get all of the answers. I believe that some husbands are being truthful when they tell you that they aren’t 100% sure about why they cheated. Frankly, people who are struggling with self-awareness are EXACTLY the people who are ripe for cheating. This lack of self-awareness is merely a continuation of what was probably already present and what likely contributed to the affair.

Nonnegotiable Answers: With the above said, there is information that you have a right to know. You need to understand exactly what you are dealing with. To that end, there are some questions that should have very straight-forward answers. For example, there should be no ambiguity in providing information on how long the affair lasted or how it was carried out. It should be very simple for him to recount how they met. He should easily tell you when, how, and why the affair ended. He should be honest about whether he blames you or your marriage for any of this. He should tell you straight-up if he’s attempting to justify his behavior. This information is important. Ideally, it will allow you to see the behaviors and patterns that you want to watch out for in the future.

Tricky Answers: Things gets tricky when you’re asking about his feelings and his motivations. A man who has an affair is typically a vulnerable man who is struggling. A man who has a firm grip on his motivations is less likely to cheat. The fact that he did cheat indicates that self-awareness is not at an all-time high for him.

That’s why it can be counterproductive to continue to ask him the same questions and to repeatedly attempt to analyze him when you are not a therapist or psychiatrist. This process can frustrate you both. Worse, his fluctuating or unsatisfactory answers can lead you to believe that he is lying when he isn’t. Likewise, he can begin to believe that no matter which answers he gives you, they will always be wrong in your eyes.

Moving Forward When You’re Still Unsatisfied: How to move forward when there are still unanswered questions can be a daunting question. In my own experience, I just got very tired of always feeling hopeless. My journal was full of the same old things. Our conversations seemed to be on repeat.

With the blessing of my therapist, I decided that I would table some of the same repetitive issues so long as my husband was doing what I asked and demonstrating trustworthy behavior. So long as he was engaged in our marriage, coming straight home, going to counseling, and being completely honest and accountable, I stopped continuously asking the tricky questions that I mentioned above. He’d already tried to answer them over and over. And I decided that it was more important for us to heal than to keep going in circles.

Then an interesting thing happened. As we healed, the questions and the analysis became pretty pointless. It was a relief to let this go.

That is why I believe that you CAN get to the point where you overanalyze the affair. I also think that you likely intuitively know if you are at this point. If you can think of little else and feel as if you are just going in circles with no real progress, then you might want to make a deal with your husband that you will pause the analysis as long as he is showing accountability, rehabilitation, and motivation toward healing.  You can read about how this worked for me on my blog at http://surviving-the-affair.com

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For wives who don’t intimately know the woman with whom your husband had an affair, her image lives only in your mind. If you’ve never actually seen her, even better. You are free to picture her as homely, annoying, or lacking in some other way. Or, you may fear the worst. You may assume that she is younger, prettier, thinner, or more intelligent than you. Either way, you likely have an image that isn’t reality – until you find yourself in a situation where you are going to have to see her after all.

If you are reading this article, I am going to assume that you are in a situation that you absolutely cannot escape. And you have at least some certainty that she will also attend. At that point, you know that you’ll need to come up with a way to approach this situation and you will have to let at least part of your mental picture go.

Someone might say, “I am freaking out. I have to attend the wedding of a family member. And my husband confessed to me that he is certain that the woman he cheated with is married to a relative of the groom. He swears that he has not spoken with or communicated with her in any way. So he can’t be 100% sure that she is coming. However, since she is a family member just like us, there is a very good chance that she too has to go to this event. So I will probably have to see her. I have looked her up on social media so I have a general idea of what she looks like. However, I have limited my exposure to her image. I already have a hard time with not thinking about her and the affair all of the time. So if I put a bunch of images of her in my mind, I will only make things harder for myself. At the same time, I can’t bail on this wedding. I can’t punish my family because of my own personal drama. But I am suffering from severe anxiety because of this. I don’t want to face her. I don’t want her judging me. I don’t want her to see my husband. How am I going to handle this?”

I will do my best here. But I am not a therapist and if you think you need to speak to one, please do. I can understand why you do not want to cancel out of the wedding. However, I can also understand your stress. I think the best thing that you can do is try to regain as much control as you. In my own experience with this, it is the unknown that is the biggest variable for anxiety.

Being Very Clear About Your Intentions And Expectations: I would recommend being clear about your wishes now. How close are you to the mother of the bride? Does she know about the affair and your struggles? If so, you want to ask that you are seated nowhere near the other woman or her husband.

Then, you want to make sure your husband understands that you expect him to protectively and attentively stay by your side at all times. He is not to look at, speak with, or give her any opportunity to engage in any way whatsoever. It is important that he understands and agrees with this. If you know that he is going to act like the attentive, loving husband that you deserve, this will alleviate some of your dread.

Finally, you need to think about your desired intention. Ideally, you want to be in a good place and actively healing. If the other woman is vindictive, prideful, or even wistful, what she wants is to see you unsure of yourself, or your marriage, or struggling with either of these things. That is why you must not give her the satisfaction of even the slightest suggestion of either.

Boost Your Confidence As Much As Possible: Make absolutely sure that you look and feel your best. Spare no expense. You deserve to feel and project confidence. Then, once you are at the wedding, do your best to remember why you are there – to enjoy the wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime special day of your family member. Try very hard to be present for that event and for that event only.

You know in your heart that focusing on her is bad for your mental health. Therefore, don’t engage in that behavior at the wedding. Do not look at her or her husband. It’s easy to tell yourself that you will glance her way in order to avoid her. But we both know that is just a ruse. Ideally, your focus should be on the wedding, your family, and your husband. Sure, you may see her. But if you do, divert yourself back to the reason for your attendance. She is not your reason.

I know that this is difficult. I am sorry you have to do this. But once it is over, it is like quickly pulling the bandaid off a scab. You’ve done it and you don’t have to dread it anymore. You won’t have to continue living your life experiencing the fear of accidentally running into her somewhere. The worst is over.

And it’s all upward from here. Once you rebuild your life, the dread of this sort of thing begins to wane. You realize that it really is about you and how you want to spend your time today and for the rest of your life. I promise you don’t want to spend your time thinking about or being afraid of her presence.

So do what you have to do for your own sake and for the sake of your family and then leave her far behind. Focus on rebuilding your own life. Do not spend one more second on her than you have to. Your best focus is on yourself and on your own healing.  You can read about how I went about my own healing at http://surviving-the-affair.com

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There’s no question that a wife can feel extremely traumatized after she learns that her husband has cheated or had an affair. It is not unusual to feel as if you are sleepwalking through life (or worse) for quite some time. Some wives worry that the affair will negatively impact their mental health permanently because it has given them posttraumatic stress disorder or PTSD.

A wife might say, “learning about my husband’s affair has completely upended my life. I have never been so shocked. My husband was the person I most trusted in this world. Turns out, that was a mistake because he betrayed me in the worst way. I have talked to my best friend about this quite a lot. She is not a mental health professional, but she does have a behavioral background. She believes that the affair gave me PTSD. At first, I scoffed at this because I have always been very healthy in terms of mental health. But then I took a long, hard look at my life and I believe that she may be right. In truth, ever since I learned about the affair, I don’t sleep. I don’t eat. I have nightmares. I am always suspicious and now I always assume that most people have unsavory motives. My attitude and demeanor are now always negative. I’m nearly certain that I am depressed. Could I have PTSD? And if so, will I have it forever? Does it go away? Can you recover from it?”

Symptoms Of PTSD: I am not a mental health professional. However, I have read much literature and research that leads me to believe that therapists do believe that is is possible to have PTSD after any trauma, including an affair. The reason for this is that it is very common to see symptoms of PTSD after an affair, including things like:

feelings of hopelessness and powerlessness

rumination or finding reasons to continue to go over negative emotions and thoughts about the affair

swinging emotions where one minute you feel numb and the next you feel overwhelming sadness and/or anger

and

feeling unstable and off balance.

These are just a few examples, but nearly everyone I know who has been through infidelity (myself included) can identify with these symptoms because we have deeply felt or experienced them.

The Affair Can Bring Back Previous Trauma: It is not uncommon for this new bout of PTSD to trigger memories or negative experiences of trauma from the past. Since an affair can make you question everything that you thought you knew, you can end up ruminating over multiple things. You can suddenly find a laundry list of all sorts of things that are now wrong with your life. In fact, after betrayals like infidelity, it is not uncommon to look back over your life in search of “proof” that you can’t trust anyone or that you are actually unlovable or unable to maintain a relationship. None of these things are true, of course. But it’s very common for PTSD to trigger the need to find a pattern of heartbreak as some sort of answer as to why this happened to you. In truth, there isn’t always an answer. You did nothing to deserve this. Please believe that.

So Can You Survive This PTSD And Move On? Yes, you can. Think about it for a second. When we take a walk down memory lane to try to determine what might have lead up to the affair, we forget one very important piece of the puzzle. Chances are, we are remembering these heartbreaks right now because we are devastated.

However, last month or last year, these things were in our rearview mirror. We were happily married, so we were able to leave these unfortunate events from our past where they belonged – in the past. And we moved on. The human spirit and our sense of resilience allowed us to do this. In time and with healing, you can overcome this affair.

How Do You Move Past A Pain Like This One? It is really helpful if both you and your spouse accept the trauma that the affair has caused. It does no good to downplay the pain that you are going through and it’s very important that your husband acknowledges both your pain and his role in it. Yes, you have the responsibility to want to move on and to do everything in your power to put one foot in front of the other, but your husband shares this burden.

Because he has an even bigger role to play since he is the party who put these events into motion. He will need to become your partner in healing and the one person on whom you can rely to be your ally and helpmate in overcoming these wounds. In a sense, you both have to become detectives. He needs to uncover what contributed to him committing this horrible act and you need to uncover (and share with him) what you need to begin to feel like yourself again.

In order to be your true ally, he will need to abandon any justification for his actions. If he truly wants to help you move on, he can not claim that you didn’t meet his needs and were therefore partly to blame. He must also be prepared to weather whatever frustration, anger, and confusion that you understandably have. He must have the patience to stand by you as you sort through the grief you are now feeling. The sooner he is willing to take responsibility for this process, the sooner you can both begin to heal.

In terms of how the wounded party can do her part, you must have patience with yourself and understand that you may have mood swings, life disturbances, and feelings of irrationality. While you may feel the need to retaliate or run away, you must try to self-soothe, find outside professional help if needed, and commit to envisioning a future that is positive and is reflective on what you deserve.

To answer the original question, yes, I definitely believe that one can experience symptoms of PTSD after an affair because an affair causes trauma. But I also believe that like all traumas, you can heal from it. I do believe that I have healed and in many ways, I am stronger from doing so.  If it helps, I share more of how I healed from my own husband’s affair at http://surviving-the-affair.com

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By: Katie Lersch: I often hear from wives who are gearing up to meet with or question the woman that their husband cheated with.  They often want to know how they should act or what they should ask her.  They often will rehearse for, plan out, and play out this meeting in their mind long before it ever happens.   They hope that having this conversation will give them some kind of closure or will mean that the woman goes away for good. They want for her to know that there’s a real person with feelings who is actually married to the man she was carrying on with.

I recently heard from a wife who had planned to approach the other women at a place where she knew this person frequented and was going to be.  She said in part “what should I ask this woman and how should I say it?  I want to know why she did this and want to compare her story with my husband’s story so that I really find out the truth. I want to know how she could do this to my family and what she was thinking.  I want to know what my husband told her about me and if he was lying to her also.  What can I say to find out the truth about all of this?  And how can I make her answer me directly?”  I’ll try to address these concerns in the following article.

What You Need To Understand Before You Question The Other Woman: I understand what you are probably trying to accomplish with this meeting.  You want answers and you don’t trust your husband to give you truthful ones.  You suspect that your husband is embellishing the truth either to spare you pain or to make himself and his actions look a little better than they actually were.

So you want to demand the truth from the other person who knows it – the other woman.  But here’s what you need to understand.  Many times, we assume that she is going to just come out with the truth, but I have to tell you that this rarely happens in the way that you want it to.

Think about it. She has just as many reasons to embellish the truth as your husband does (if not more) and she will often package things to make her less responsible and your husband more so.

She often doesn’t really have any reason to want to help you save your marriage or to give you closure.  Just like you, she will often be concerned about her own needs, her own self esteem, and her own well being.  So anything she tells you will often be meant to help her own cause rather than to help yours.

And sometimes, she’s invested in out and out hurting you rather than helping you. She has her own agenda and she often won’t take kindly to your accusations and questions.  I know that you are hoping that she will give you the information that you need.  But if you ask yourself what is her incentive or motivation to do so, you’ll see that the answer is often that she has none.

So any questions that you ask have to be carefully considered and asked in such a way that she has no reason to lie or become defensive.  Because if she does, your objective isn’t met.

Ask Yourself What You Are Really Hoping To Learn From Questioning Her And Then Determine The Best Way To Get The Results You Want:  My suggestion for determining any questions that you want to ask the other woman is to first ask yourself what you really and truly want.  What are you hoping to learn or get from this meeting?

I can tell you what many women are hoping for.  They are hoping that this conversation helps them feel better and that it gives them a clearer picture of what truly happened and whether it continues to happen.   They want to know what they are up against.  They want to look her in the eye and let her know that she can’t continue to cheat with someone’s husband and not have to face the consequences.

And the best to approach to getting these things will sometimes depend on what you have decided about your marriage. If you are 100 percent sure that you are done with her, your husband, and your marriage then what is the point of continuing on with this and allowing this meeting to cause you more pain?  If you just want to have your say, understand that she will want to have hers also, more than likely

And, if there’s some possibility that you might want to save your marriage,  then allowing her into your life, or opening yourself up to doubts and  insecurities as the result of meeting with her, will often not be your best call.

Ask yourself if there’s a more reliable or healthy way to get these answers.  Which of either of them knows you better, is more invested in your well being, and has the information that you want?  Often, the answer is your husband, although I know that this isn’t what you want to hear.

The point is, I really recommend taking a very hard look at your motivation and asking yourself what you truly are trying to accomplish before you ask any questions because this allows you to at least keep your focus on to make decisions based on what is best of you.

If You Just Have To Question Her, Here Are What I Think Are The Most Important Things To Know:  I fully realize that even though you might see the points that I making have some validity, you still might very much want to question her.  If this is the case, I urge you to keep it short and sweet or even to consider doing this in writing so that she does not have any chance to engage you or to attempt to make things worse by saying something that you can’t pretend that you never heard.

In my mind, the most important question to ask her is if the affair is over.  In truth, this is really what wives want to know the most.  And this is a simple yes or no answer.  Most wives also want to know if she is going to back off while you are trying to save your marriage or if she is someone who is going to continue to be in your life.

Now, many women will want to ask the why or how type questions.  Examples are: “why did you cheat with my husband?”  Or “how did you and my husband carry out the cheating and get away with it?” Another example is “how did my husband convince you to cheat with him? What did he tell you about me?”

I understand why you want to know these things, but before you ask these questions, make sure that you are prepared to know the answers and ask yourself if you are willing to validate them with your husband.  Because, as I said, this person is likely not invested in helping you heal.  She’s more likely invested in helping herself (even if she isn’t aware of this or isn’t trying to hurt you) and her answers are likely going to reflect this.

In short, my advice is to limit yourself to the questions that help you heal and move forward rather than blurting out the questions to which the answers might hurt you more or delay your moving forward.

I know that this is probably just one issue that you are dealing with, but always put your healing first. If it helps, you can check out my blog that explains how I healed in my own situation.  There are also some very good free resources on this blog.

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