At my Houston relationship counseling office, couples come to me to get past an emotional affair. This type of infidelity involves a lot of mixed emotions – guilt, anger, sadness, distrust – and can be just as hard to get past as a sexual affair.
The first step is to end the affair completely. In my Houston relationship counseling sessions, I encourage the partner who had the affair to feel sad that it has ended. Often, he or she may be feeling too guilty to go through the grieving process, and this can make it harder to move on. The other partner may feel distrustful, demand details, and ask that the cheating partner be accountable for his or her whereabouts. These feelings must also be respected. Both partners must be patient with one another as they go through the healing process.
Houston Relationship Counseling: Appreciate the Love You Have
I also like to discuss the physiology behind romantic love in my Houston relationship counseling sessions. When you are infatuated with someone, dopamine and other neurotransmitters are sent out into the same brain regions that are affected when someone feels a rush from cocaine. You are literally high on drugs. But over time, the release of these chemicals would diminish, just as it did with your current partner, and reality would begin to set in. Little imperfections that didn’t bother you before would come to the forefront, and your differences would become more apparent. Relationship problems would be the result, but you’d be starting all over again.
Instead, recognize that you can work on improving the relationship you currently have. Take the time to appreciate the life you have built together and remember why you came together in the first place.
Houston relationship counseling can be beneficial for understanding why the affair occurred in the first place. You can work through relationship problems and discover what you were looking for that your current relationship isn’t providing. Get to know each other again, and learn how you can better meet each other’s needs.
An emotional affair can be a blessing in disguise, a “wake-up call” that allows you to work on your relationship problems before things get too out of hand. If you need help to get past it, consider Houston relationship counseling.
