Infatuation Rules
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What infidelity does to the victim?

If you've been cheated on, it may take a long time to heal. It can cause you chronic anxiety, post-traumatic stress, depression, and mistrust of others for a long time after the event.

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Infidelity can cause problems in any relationship. The affects of such a betrayal can be long-term and devastating. Share on Pinterest RichVintage/Getty Images Infidelity can have long-term effects on the quality of your relationship. Infidelity can involve sexual or emotional affairs with someone outside the relationship agreement you have with your partner. You may have cheated on your partner and find yourself surprised by the consequences of that decision, or you may have been cheated on and have difficulty moving past it. You might wonder if you can move forward after an affair or how that might affect you, your relationship, and your mental health. What are the long-term effects of being cheated on? If you’ve been cheated on, it may take a long time to heal. It can cause you chronic anxiety, post-traumatic stress, depression, and mistrust of others for a long time after the event. How does being cheated on effect the brain? Love, insofar as being a factory for releasing dopamine and triggering feelings of euphoria, can feel addictive to your brain. So the rejection caused by infidelity can cause several changes in the brain pathways similar to withdrawal in substance use disorder. Rejection can cause short- and long-term consequences to your brain chemistry. Being in love produces more oxytocin and dopamine in our brains, and infidelity can disrupt the pathways that cause the release of these chemicals in our brain. When your child finds out you cheated If your child finds out you cheated, it can cause many ripple effects: Your child may side with and trust your partner more than you. They may experience feelings of confusion, anxiety, abandonment, and isolation not unlike the partner who was cheated on. One study also suggests that children with a parent who has had an affair may have trust issues with future romantic partners.

Your child may form negative perceptions of fidelity.

A 2017 study looked at how children imitate infidelity modeled to them in childhood in adult relationships. Can infidelity cause mental illness? Infidelity can cause symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress from the relationship breach that were not previously present before an affair. Some common symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares, and obsessions about the event. You may also experience hyperarousal and become reactive at any perceived threat to yourself or your relationship. As a result, you can have disruptive sleeping and eating patterns. What does research say about how cheating affects a man? No matter who you are, you can still be impacted by infidelity. One study that looked at gender differences in response to infidelity found that women tend to be more distressed by emotional affairs, and men tend to become more distressed over physical affairs. This difference in response to emotional versus sexual infidelity is reinforced by an extensive study on infidelity with approximately 64,000 participants, which had similar findings. This study also examined the impact that cheating has on gay, lesbian, and bisexual people. There was no significant gender difference in degrees of upset over infidelity among LGB+ folks.

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How likely is it for your partner to cheat on you?

Recent studies reveal that 50%-60% of married men engage in extramarital sex at some time or another during their relationship (about 45%-55% of married women cheat). And the women being cheated on? About 70% have no idea. Or maybe they just don't want to know.It doesn't have to be that way.

“Daddy was the first male role model, so when it comes to mirroring men’s behavior, he’ll end up [doing] what he saw in the house,” says New York City therapist Gilda Carle, Ph.D., author of Don’t Bet on the Prince and How to Win When Your Mate Cheats (downloadable at www.drgilda.com). 7. He lost his job. Don’t hit the panic button: His loss of a paycheck doesn’t necessarily signal an affair. But unemployment puts strain on a marriage and can make a man feel vulnerable, especially if he had the job for decades and it defined his identity. He’ll be looking high and low for validation that he’s still worthwhile.“When guys aren’t feeling so good about themselves, they may boost their self-esteem through an affair,” Batshaw says. Plus, spending time with a woman who doesn’t demand anything of him can be an escape. “He’s looking for a feel-good moment — someone who appreciates him and isn’t saying, Why haven’t you found a job?” Dr. Leslie says.8. He had doubts about moving in or getting married. This is a biggie, says Maria Bustillos, author of Act Like a Gentleman, Think Like a Woman (Accidental Books). A man who is not entirely invested in a relationship is always looking for an exit, making him vulnerable to the temptations of infidelity. “If some woman finds him attractive and busts a little move toward him, he may go for it because he wants out, whether he knows it or not,” she says. People often don’t leave without somebody else lined up.

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