By Eddie Capparucci, MA, LPC
One of the most tragic aspects of a sexual addiction is the emotional pain our insensitive and self-absorbed actions cause to our innocent partner. They are the unfortunate ones who get tangled in our web of deceit and are made to pay a large price for our destructive behavior.
It breaks my heart the first time a couple sits across from me in a counseling session and I listen to the wife or girlfriend describe her anguish and frustration in trying to understand why the man she thought loved her with all his heart could crush her world through his wicked infidelity. I see in their eyes their internal struggle to contemplate how they will ever be able to recover from the betrayal and learn to trust and love again. What makes it more heartbreaking is when they start to question what they could have done differently to prevent him from acting out.
It has been noted the timeframe for healing from betrayal can be anywhere from 12 to 24 months. That length of time is required in order for the offended partner to process the pain, while grieving the loss of how she viewed the relationship.
During this time of recovery, the offender can expect to encounter a wide range of emotions being exhibited by his partner including sadness, doubt, confusion, disgust, and anger.
Particularly anger. In fact, I tell my clients who have abused sex to understand their partner has a barrel of rocks and “she will be launching them in your direction for quite some time to come.”
One of the worst things a man could do is try to shut down their partner in the grieving process. I remember one wife who told me her husband said she had one weekend to get answers to any questions she had and after that he would no longer discuss the matter. All this man was doing was once again demonstrating his own selfishness and putting his desire to move on ahead of her need to heal.
Gentlemen, the long-term rock throwing you will be experiencing is better known as consequences. For those men who sincerely feel a sense of remorse and want to restore their relationship, they will need to stand tall and allow the rocks to fly providing their partners with the release they need to mend.
Believe me, your wife or girlfriend would rather be in a different position than rock throwing but you put her there. If you shut her down and prohibit her from grieving, you are doing nothing more than simply extending her agony. And if you are successful in shutting her down don’t think for a moment that you have escaped her wrath. Most likely, her anger will come out in passive aggressive ways, or later down the road, she will be a hurling boulders at you and neither of you will have any idea of why they exist. As the grieving process continues and she begins to sense you are safe, you will see the size of the rocks become smaller.
We failed the first time when we hurt our partners by abusing sex and betraying them. We cannot fail them during their need for healing.
Be a man. Take the rocks thrown your way.
Eddie Capparucci is a Christian therapist and licensed by the State of Georgia. He is certified in the treatment of sexual and pornography addiction, and he and his wife, Teri, have a private practice working with men struggling with sexual and pornography addictions, as well as their wives who are dealing with betrayal. Among his many clients, Eddie has worked with professional athletes, including NFL and MLB players and television personalities.
He is the creator of the Inner Child Recovery Process (ICRP) for the treatment of Sexual and Pornography addiction. This unique treatment method helps individuals get to the root issues of their addiction and provides them with the tools and insight to manage the disorder. It is endorsed by many leaders in the sex addiction field. The Inner Child Recovery Process is the subject of his new book, Going Deeper: How the Inner Child Impacts Your Sexual Addiction. He also is the host of the webcast entitled Getting to the Other Side: Helping Couples Navigate the Road to Recovery.