Infidelity can have lasting impacts on partners and children the couple may have. Grief, brain changes, behaviors down the road, and mental health conditions such as anxiety, chronic stress, and depression can result. Some families have been able to move past infidelity with time and therapy. Infidelity can be traumatic, causing intensely painful emotions for the person who was cheated on. They may actually experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including heightened anxiety, intrusive thoughts, and emotional distress. The emotional, physical, and mental effects of such affairs can be severe. One could be depressed and anxious, mainly due to the guilt that overtakes their conscience. In other cases, one would feel gauged, helpless, and trapped in the situation. Cheating can cause someone to have a mental break down, and leads to a complete loss of respect. When it comes to relationships, remaining faithful is never an option; loyalty is everything.

1. What are the long term effects of cheating?
Infidelity can have lasting impacts on partners and children the couple may
have. Grief, brain changes, behaviors down the road, and mental health
conditions such as anxiety, chronic stress, and depression can result. Some
families have been able to move past infidelity with time and therapy.
Infidelity can be traumatic, causing intensely painful emotions for the person who
was cheated on. They may actually experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD), including heightened anxiety, intrusive thoughts, and emotional
distress.
The emotional, physical, and mental effects of such affairs can be severe. One could
be depressed and anxious, mainly due to the guilt that overtakes their conscience.
In other cases, one would feel gauged, helpless, and trapped in the situation.
Cheating can cause someone to have a mental break down, and leads to a
complete loss of respect. When it comes to relationships, remaining faithful is
never an option; loyalty is everything.
Research shows it takes about eighteen months to two years to heal from the
pain of your partner's infidelity. Knowing that the pain isn't going away overnight
can be helpful, and knowing that it will eventually end is also valuable in the healing
process.
Beginning the recovery process
1. Acknowledge instead of avoid. Healing often requires you to first come to terms with
what happened.
2. Practice accepting difficult emotions. Plenty of unpleasant emotions can show up in
the aftermath of betrayal.
3. Turn to others for support.
4. Focus on what you need.
Experiencing betrayal, a form of emotional abuse, can cause various post-traumatic
stress disorder. Symptoms such as flashbacks, nightmares and impaired
sleeping, depression, anxiety, brain fog, distrust, dissociation, are common.
Betrayed partners often feel as if their reality has been shaken to its core.
The signs and symptoms of Betrayal Trauma vary, but generally include
symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), such as: Intrusive thoughts
and images. Nightmares or flashbacks.
There are many mental health disorders that have diagnostic symptoms that
can manifest through the act of infidelity. The fact that infidelity in those situations
is caused by the affliction of a mental disorder should not be used as an excuse to
let the unfaithful off the hook for the choices they made.

2. Among men, 68% feel guilty after having an affair. Even if they haven't confessed
the affair, most cheating husbands will feel guilty and express that guilt in their
behavior. You may notice subtle changes in their behavior that make you wonder if
your spouse is displaying cheating husband guilt.
So, if you've wondered do cheaters realize what they lost, they most definitely do.
However, by then, a lot of damage has already been caused to all parties involved.
Working through an affair is tough. It takes tremendous energy and vulnerability on
both sides. Drs. John and Julie Gottman have developed the Trust Revival Method,
with three defined stages of treatment: Atonement, Atonement, and Attachment.
Mood swings: Betrayed spouses can be sad and depressed one minute, filled
with rage and anger the next, and then desperately affectionate, loving, and
even sexual the next. And their moods can swing from one extreme to the other
with little to no warning.
The effects of betrayal include shock, loss and grief, morbid pre-occupation,
damaged self-esteem, self-doubting, anger. Not infrequently they produce life-
altering changes. The effects of a catastrophic betrayal are most relevant for anxiety
disorders, and OC D and PTSD in particular.
People can cheat on someone they love due to neglect, commitment or self-
esteem issues, lack of intimacy, or even revenge. A person who cheated once
will likely cheat again, but this is not true for everyone. Infidelity doesn't signify the
end of a relationship; a couple can repair their relationship after an affair.
Most betrayed partners (I'll say “wife” in this case) experience symptoms of Post-
Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) severe enough to meet criteria for this disorder.
Those symptoms can last a very long time—meaning many months, even many
years—and are influenced by a variety of factors.
Stages of Betrayal Trauma and Recovery
 Shock and devastation. Everything you thought you knew about your partner and
your intimate relationship is now called into question.
 Anger.
 Grief and difficulty feeling grounded.
 Healing and Rebirth.
From Freyd (2008): Betrayal trauma occurs when the people or institutions on which
a person depends for survival significantly violate that person' s trust or well-
being: Childhood physical, emotional, or sexual abuse perpetrated by a
caregiver are examples of betrayal trauma.
The reason that betrayal is the most devastating kind loss is because most often it
is a loss that didn't have to occur. It only occurs because of someone's
deliberately hurtful behavior, or their carelessness, or their own personal weakness.

3. They affect the other partner both physically and mentally, making them
experience; Anxiety and depression. Rage and posttraumatic stress (PTSD)
Increased distress, self-blame, and shame.
Dr. Carnes writes that in many cases of PTSD, infidelity causes new, distorted
bonds to form between spouses. He calls these “trauma bonds” or “betrayal
bonds.” Trauma bonds look different in every relationship.
Most Obvious Characteristics of a Cheating Woman
 Low self-esteem and validation seeking. ...
 Constant lying about everything. ...
 She accuses her partner of cheating. ...
 She often says she doesn't deserve her partner. ...
 A sudden change in sexual appetite and habits. ...
 She likes to keep her personal life a secret.
As our society makes it more and more acceptable to break a promise, it makes it
easier and easier for anyone to cheat with very little guilt or remorse. I've found
that most cheaters really do have a conscience. Many people who cheat didn't set
out to do so.
Sometimes, when a man feels guilty for cheating, he is being eaten away. He
feels deep remorse and regret. Other times, he lives guilt-free and sees the
cheating as a necessary catalyst for change or something that, well, just happened.
Multitudes, man.
"Typically, one-time cheaters are searching for a way to fill the void of what is
missing in their relationships, be it emotional or physical affection," relationship
coach, Jenna Ponaman, CPC, tells Bustle. Regardless of their motivation, one-time
cheaters will be truly remorseful.