After the Affair: Can Couples Therapy Help Mend Bridges Between You and Your Partner?

Infidelity undermines the very foundation of marriage. After discovering the affair, the betrayed partner may feel jealous, angry, and deeply sad or hurt. They may struggle to let go of resentment and may experience symptoms of PTSD. It is not unusual for the cheating partner to feel guilty or embarrassed after the affair is discovered.

Couples trying to recover from an affair can face difficulty building trust. Negative emotions can affect their relationship, and a partner may drift apart from the other person. Couples therapy in Queens can help couples trying to mend their marriage after an affair deal with emotional upheavals. It is a form of psychotherapy designed to help couples communicate better and resolve relationship problems.

What Happens in Couples Therapy?

In the first session, your therapist will likely ask you and your partner questions about your relationship, family history, cultural background, and values. In the subsequent few sessions, they will try to get to the root of the problems. Once they acquire an in-depth understanding of the relationship problems you are facing, they will define goals, develop a timeline, and develop a treatment plan.

During counseling sessions, therapists conduct various psychotherapy exercises to help couples gain the skills required to communicate better. Couples are also given take-home assignments designed to help them work on their existing skills as well as new skills that they learn in therapy.

How Does Couples Therapy Help Heal From Infidelity?

The purpose of couples therapy is to help couples let go of the past and rebuild their relationship after an affair. Couples who undergo therapy gain a better understanding of their relationship dynamics. In couples therapy, you and your partner learn effective ways to resolve relationship roadblocks and deal with negative emotions.

Here are some other benefits of couples counseling:

• It helps understand how the affair happened, so it no longer seems like a random, unpredictable event. A sense of predictability enables couples to begin their recovery journey.
• Distrust can spread through a relationship after an affair. Couples therapy equips couples with the tools required to rebuild trust.
• Couples therapy can help rekindle emotional and physical intimacy.
• Your therapist can help you identify relationship problems that existed before the affair started.
• Couples therapy can help address childhood wounds that might have contributed to the affair.
• A therapist can help you and your partner understand how you both consciously or unconsciously failed to protect and strengthen your relationship.

Cooper Mental Health Counseling offers different types of therapies designed to help couples improve their relationship. Our methods address the root cause of relationship issues instead of treating them superficially. To make your first appointment, call (347) 244-7873.