Online Infidelity and How to Rebuild

Infidelity comes in different forms, including physical, emotional, and online. Online infidelity is too easy to access and can happen through text, social media, email, or any other way you can be unfaithful through the internet. 

Couples are faced with the pain of emotional affairs, the sharing of pictures, and online sex workers.

The pains online infidelity causes are just as painful as other types of infidelity. Affairs undermine many of the foundational parts of a relationship. The devastation, grief, betrayal, and loneliness affect both partners.

Loss of trust is probably the most obvious effect. Infidelity completely obliterates trust. Many people say the lie or deceitfulness is more painful than the act itself. It will take a long time for the uninvolved partner to rebuild this trust, and it will take a lot of understanding and concessions from the partner who had the affair. 

The good news is, infidelity does not have to end relationships and sometimes relationships can be rebuilt stronger than they were before.

What You Can Do To Repair Your Relationship

The Unfaithful Person

• Acknowledge your mistake: validate your partners experience

• Sacrifice some privacy: build trust by giving your partner more visibility into your digital life 

• Hold space: your partner is hurt and will need to be able to express their hurt at different times while you hold the space for them to do so

The Hurt Person

• Communicate: talk to your partner about how this made you feel and what you need to heal 

• Forgiveness: forgiving your partner is important for your and the relationships healing

In therapy we explore what lead to the infidelity and fix the issues to prevent it from happening again. If you are interested in learning more about how therapy can help you, contact me so we can get you on the same page.