Marriage Counsellor and Psychologist Shivani Misri Sadhoo

How would you feel when you accidentally find out that your husband, whom you love dearly, is cheating on you? Once the initial shock wears off, you may find yourself cycling through various emotions, much like the stages of grief. Initially, there’s disbelief and perhaps a reluctance to accept the reality of the betrayal. Then, as the truth sinks in, pain and anger may set in.

But why do people cheat?

From a lack of attention or affection to deep-seated insecurities, the motivations for infidelity are myriad. It’s not just about physical transgressions; emotional betrayals cut just as deep. While men may reel more from physical infidelity, women often place a high value on emotional fidelity. So, what would you do in such circumstances? Should you forgive him or ignore it completely and let bygones be bygones?

How do you deal with your cheating husband?

India’s top marriage counselor, Shivani Misri Sadhoo answers your question in this article.

Verify The Facts First

First things first. Before jumping to conclusions, it’s crucial to gather solid evidence if you suspect your husband is cheating. Your gut feeling might be telling you something’s off, but you can’t accuse him without proof.

Take time to investigate: Is it innocent chatting or something more? Could it be work-related? Figure out the nature of his relationship with the other person. Look for concrete evidence like messages or meeting details before confronting him. Confirm your suspicions before taking action because wrongly accusing him can harm your relationship trust. It’s better to be sure than sorry.

Try and find out the reason

Once you’ve gathered the facts, exploring the real reason behind your husband’s infidelity is essential. It might be tough to ask and even tougher to hear, but understanding the root cause can be pivotal in moving forward.

It could unveil hidden relationship issues needing attention or reveal feelings of neglect or dissatisfaction. An open and honest conversation about infidelity’s catalyst can offer clarity and aid in both of your healing processes. Keep an open mind during this discussion to prevent your husband from shutting down or merely telling you what you want to hear.

Consider Your Feelings

When you discover your partner’s unfaithfulness, it’s important to prioritize your emotional well-being. Consider whether you feel comfortable sharing a living space with them as you process this betrayal. It’s okay to need space to think things through. If necessary, arrange for separate sleeping arrangements to give each other room to reflect. Take time to acknowledge and mourn the loss of trust in the relationship. Creating a safe environment to process these emotions is vital for your healing journey.

Don’t Look Back

There is no point in endlessly replaying conversations or questioning every detail when dealing with a cheating spouse. It’s natural to feel betrayed and wonder about what else may have been hidden, but dwelling on the past only leads to negativity and mistrust. Instead, focus on moving forward and healing, looking towards the future rather than getting stuck in hypotheticals. By working through the stages of healing and eventually forgiving both your partner and yourself, you can find peace and rebuild trust in your relationship.

Don’t involve the children

It is not wise to discuss your husband’s infidelity with your children. While it may seem tempting to seek revenge by exposing his actions, it can deeply affect your kids. They might not understand the complexity of the situation and could be scarred emotionally. Involving them could also make them feel scared and insecure about the stability of their family.

It’s important to shield them from this pain and turmoil. Keep things as normal as possible at home and refrain from involving extended family to avoid gossip and division. Instead of seeking revenge, focus on your own healing and well-being, for the sake of your children’s happiness and security.

It is quite clear from these steps that addressing infidelity in a relationship requires patience, understanding, and prioritizing emotional well-being. By verifying facts, exploring reasons, focusing on healing, and protecting children, couples can navigate this challenging journey with empathy and grace. If needed, seek support from a relationship counsellor or psychologist for guidance and resolution in processing and healing from infidelity.

When a person is said to be emotionally unstable, what it means is that the individual’s reaction to issues is unpredictable. The person’s behaviour is a disorder or has an altitudinal defect. It is very difficult to be in a relationship with an emotionally unstable kind of personality and sometimes it also is frustrating. Because you are not able to understand what to do to please or annoy them. Sometimes, they may approve or sometimes they react violently to the same thing.

Generally, an angry emotionally unstable partner can be brutal. Emotional instability is different from emotional immaturity. The latter refers to a formative phase in one’s life where one is still discovering oneself. It is usually transitory; it has nothing to do with being immature.

It often arises as a result of a fault in upbringing or a personality disorder. Before you get into someone or they get into you, it is usually good to first ascertain their emotional stability. In the current scenario, one of the leading causes of marital and relationship break up is emotional incompatibility. Delhi’s eminent marriage counselor and relationship expert Shivani Misri Sadhoo talk about 7 signs you are dating someone emotionally unstable.

Impulsive Decisions

In life, at one point everyone has to take impulsive decisions and it doesn’t mean that everyone is unstable. But if a person takes a decision which damages their own property because they didn’t take time to think it through, then such kind of person is unstable emotionally. For example, a partner who is into gambling or play without planning of finance is looser always.

They may agree to a contract without taking time to thoroughly study and understand its terms and conditions. They only get to regret later when the contract is now taking its effect on them. So, when you are dating take care of their decision. It is going to be up to you to decide whether to continue with them or leave.

Easily Angered

The violent reaction comes when they get angry because they easily lose their control and injure valuable property. Healthy person, they have some limitations of expressing of their anger but they don’t have any kind of boundary for anger and this is a serious issue for a healthy relationship when you are going to make it.

Hardly Show Emotions

Emotional instability as the expression of extreme negative behaviour but there is a subtle symptom of this personality disorder. For example, a normal person would scream at the sight of a horrible scene but an emotionally unstable individual may react differently. Most of the time, if you are walking with such a person, you may constantly see yourself as a fool because the things you would expect them to react to normal, they won’t.

Constantly Get Tired

One may notice symptoms of emotional instability such as being incessant and extreme fatigue. The reason behind the emotional disorders is psychological effects. It is a fact that they easily feel fatigued and exhausted without doing any physical exercise. Their mind is always cluttered and full with a lot of negative thoughts and useless thoughts, the brain storage is full & trying to free the mind from such thought. And it might lead to getting weak or stressed out in a short interval of time.

Blame For Their Error

In the case of being unstable emotionally, the person in front of him is always wrong except himself and for this reason, the partner of such kind of personality should be too strong to present their views on the discussion going on. Whenever any misfortune occurs, they start yelling and blaming for the same. Actually, there are times or circumstances when we are not directly responsible for what befalls us and not able to control accordingly

Find Hard To Sleep

Not being able to sleep when required is something anyone can experience who has an emotionally unstable mind. Most of the time, the mind is not at peace which doesn’t let them sleep. For people with unstable emotions, their minds are usually overactive. While they lay on the bed, their minds are usually wondering about frivolous things.

Hard To Forgive

Forgiveness is a thing which directly comes from the heart and a healthy mind can do it. Because in forgiveness first surrender one’s right and then letting go of wrong things. Sometimes they say that they have forgiven but when they go back in the memory and search out the things in their mind then they still carry with them.

No matter how hard it may sound but maintaining a wonderful relationship is not easy, especially in today’s fast lifestyle. Without much warning romance can dry out, marital life can turn monotonous and if couples still don’t pay right attention then their marriage can slip from bad to worse.

So how people can identify it’s time for them to give strong attention to their relationship?

India’s eminent relationship expert and marriage counselor Shivani Misri Sadhoo shares that prior to a relationship start to sour, there are certain body language signs that couples exhibits. She shares if couples pay attention to these warning signs, they can identify it’s time to focus hard on their relationship.   

1. Observe the pupils

Generally eyes can tell, a story about one’s relationship. When people are sexually attracted to someone, their pupils generally dilate in the moment of intimacy. The change of pupils happens subconsciously; hence it’s a good indicator of your partner’s interest in you.

So pay attention to your partner’s eye, if you witness the pupils getting shorter when you get intimate or go for a kiss  – remember it may be a sign that something is deeply bothering your partner.  Look for the right moment and discuss if something is bothering your partner.

2. Stonewalling

If a person turns their back on their partner, hangs up the phone before the conversation is over, or tunes out, it is referred to as stonewalling. Not taking your partner’s thoughts or perspective into consideration is a major red flag.

3. Touching neck during conversation

In emotional situations, people have tendency to find ways to comfort ourselves. Especially, women, in particular, typically touch their neck or throat. Oftentimes, touching the neck or throat indicates that someone is keeping something from another person.

4. Conversation and attention

Check how your partner reacts or pay attention to you when you are in conversation with him/her?  If he/she plays with his/her phone, nods without listing or worse, completely ignore you, then you its time you must introspect yourself, try to identify why your partner feels disinterested during the conversation. Sometimes it can be a simple thing like – your partner is too tired to listen to you or he/she doesn’t feel interested on your topic or sometimes it can be something else. Hence talk to your partner if you witness this body language.

5. Leaning away

 Couples from healthy relationship have tendency to lean toward one another with their bodies, legs, shoulder and even chairs. If you or your partner starts to seat away from each other, or even if you both sit in one sofa, your body points in opposite direction to each other – it could mean that you both are disinterested in connecting with each other. Hence it’s an indication that you both must pay full attention to your marriage.