Partner betrayal, trauma and recovery is unique because the pain that you are experiencing is from your partner’s behavior. Their sex addiction, infidelity, intimacy anorexia, abuse, or betrayal has caused the pain inside you. Your partner violated  the trust between you and after the discovery, it can often feel like you have been hit by a truck while walking across an intersection. For many that have experienced this earthquake in their life, it is all they can do to regain their balance and take steps to heal. However, there is hope and healing available.

Partner Betrayal

Partner betrayal often takes on many different forms within a relationship that can include affairs, one-night stands, emotional affairs, pornography use, habitual masturbation, intimacy anorexia (active withholding of intimacy & emotional connection), sexting and financial infidelity. While this list isn’t exhaustive, those are among the most common examples of betrayal within relationships. A simple definition of partner betrayal can be broken down to forms of breaking trust in the relationship, keeping secrets, and/or emotional withholding. The results of betrayal can be debilitating, and at the least a foundation of trust that was once present in the relationship has been eroded and severely cracked.  

Partner Trauma

In experiencing partner betrayal many partners will also experience symptoms that are very similar to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  Due to experiencing the traumatic event of the betrayal some of the common symptoms that the partner has can be hyperarousal, reliving the event, intrusive thoughts, panic attacks, and health problems. While many counselors and therapists are trained for trauma treatment, you will benefit from working with a Partner Betrayal Trauma Therapist (PBTT) like New Day 4 You that is best equipped to help walk you through this process and into recovery.

Partner Recovery

Why partner recovery? Sometimes when we initially meet with a partner, they will ask why they need to do recovery work or make statements like, “If my Sex addicted or Intimacy Anorexic partner changes and fixes their problem, everything will be fine.” While relationships can certainly improve if the addict changes and embraces recovery, most partners need and benefit from pursuing recovery. In considering the earlier example of the partner being hit by a truck, the individual was innocent but still got hit by the truck and as such will need medical attention, ongoing treatment and check-ups, possibly intensive surgeries, and most likely physical therapy to be fully healed. While each partner is unique, nearly all will benefit from recovery treatment.

The process of recovery will be different for each partner with common elements being individual & couples counseling/coaching, support groups, workbooks, videos, and various educational resources. The process is specialized and best developed by working with a Partner Recovery Therapist (PRT) like New Day 4 You that is both trained and experienced in this field.

If you’re a Partner, please don’t hesitate to contact us so that you can begin your journey to recovery and healing.

Of all the services that we provide, we have found this one to be one of the more delicate but also highly beneficial for clients to undertake, and very rewarding. If you or a loved one has experienced a death or a significant loss, we would encourage you to consider utilizing this service. We often like to characterize that when we struggle with grief that it impacts every part of our life, and it often dulls the beauty that is right in front of us. However, once we move through the grief process life becomes clearer and the beauty can return.