How Relationships Suffer from Hidden Affairs

Facing a hidden affair in a marriage can be a difficult situation. In most cases it is almost impossible for a relationship to continue, or at least continue healthily, once an affair has been exposed. This is mainly due to the affairs effect on six main areas of a marital relationship.

Trust
The largest area that suffers in a relationship due to a hidden affair is trust. When you take marriage vows, you are placing your entire trust in your spouse till death do you part. Part of that vow is remaining monogamous with your spouse. Once that vow has been broken it can be extremely difficult to rebuild trust. Not only can it be hard to trust the cheating spouse, but the trust issues can expand to not being able to trust any other men/women in future relationships as well.

Emotional
A hidden affair can also cause large amounts of emotional damage. The affair can cause feelings of inadequacy, blame, and doubt in the mind of the spouse that has been cheated on. They may wonder, "why was I not good enough?" or, "What could I have done differently?" The spouse may even feel that they deserved to be cheated on. This feeling may even lead the spouse into a circle of abusive relationships because they feel they only deserve that type of spouse or partner.

Psychological
An affair may also cause lasting psychological effects on both parties of the marriage. An affair can cause depression or anger management issues. The affair may even cause the spouse that was cheated on to develop an eating disorder to make themselves look more attractive to their spouse so they will not cheat again. This damage can be long lasting and can take years of therapy to move on from.

Family
The hidden sufferers of a secret affair are often the other family members, mainly the children. Most children are hypersensitive to conflict between their parents. Often times they may even discover something is wrong before the spouse does.

Sexual
Another major area that a secret affair may effect in a relationship is the area of sexual intimacy. If the spouse has not found out about the affair your, the cheating spouse may not be interested in sex because they have already been satisfied by another person. If the spouse has found out, they may be wary of having sex with their partner because of their infidelity with another person.

Financial
A relationship may also suffer financially from a hidden affair. If the couple is married and an affair emerges, the financial impacts of divorce or separation are overwhelming. Even if the couple chooses to remain in the relationship, relationship counseling can also quickly add up in financial costs.