Cheating can lead to emotional turmoil, including feelings of anger, resentment, and bitterness. The cheater may struggle to process these emotions and may lash out at those around them as they struggle to come to terms with betrayal and the consequences of their choices.
Despite the initial thrill of an affair, cheating can negatively affect the cheater emotionally. It's common for them to feel anxiety, guilt, shame, worry, regret, confusion, embarrassment, and self-loathing when they contemplate how their actions impact those they love and why they cheated in the first place.
They experience crushing guilt
The thought of someone finding out what he has done makes it hard for him to focus on his work and distracts him from time with his family. Deep regret is with him all the time, and he may even stop (or try to stop many times) the affair due to his feelings of remorse.
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.
Even if she/he cheated and chose her/him, they might miss you when they are alone. They might even think of ways to reach out to you, talk to you, and find out if you are still waiting for them.
Well, cheaters get their karma through the same way they hurt their partners. A cheater may either get cheated on by their partner whom they had cheated on or the partner in their next relationship. Despite doing it to others, cheaters feel the pain of their actions when someone else does it to them.
Although many people believe in the adage, “Once a cheater, always a cheater,” it is not necessarily true. Not every person who cheats once will cheat again. However, serial cheaters are people who seek out sexual partners on a continual, chronic pattern of infidelity.
For example, someone who cheats in a relationship may feel guilty because they're being judged for what they did. They feel bad for doing something bad. Although this is a valid emotion, it's probably not enough to rebuild a relationship. However, remorse is a deeper emotion.
Strong partners
Most cheaters are afraid of being alone. Contradictory by nature, a cheating mate is actually terrified of his or her partner leaving. A strong spouse who is willing to walk away and have a life outside of the relationship is a scary scenario for an adulterer.
People who cheat are likely impulsive and destructive at decision making. Instead of thinking about you and what happens to the relationship after cheating, they go based on what they want right now. Impulsiveness can be seen in other areas of the relationship, too. So keep an eye out.
Unforgivable: Cheating With A Friend
"If someone cheats on you with your friend, co-worker, or someone actively involved in your life? That's unforgivable," Graber says. "Because they're in your life, you're almost guaranteed to find out about it.
Cheaters often use anger as a form of deflection to turn the situation around and make accusations against you instead, like that you don't trust them enough.
Mental health issues such as depression and anxiety have been linked to infidelity. A person may also experience relationship anxiety, which often results in a person feeling more insecure about themselves. It can also induce doubt towards one's partner, and excessive worry that one will be cheated on again.
Students who cheat and at first get away with it may, in the long run, feel guilty and suffer from low self-esteem. This loss of self-respect can lead to a host of other problems, including difficulties with their careers, families, and other important aspects of life.
A woman feels abandoned
This is where most of the fear of being cheated on comes from. The woman feels that once replaced by someone else, she is no longer needed, wanted, and will eventually be discarded. It hurts her pride as a woman and worth as a person. She would feel that all her love and efforts are in vain.
Cheating can be a sign of deep relational issues
A cheater might suffer from extremely low self-esteem and a narcissistic view of seeing things. Some people have a tendency for attention-seeking and once they are satisfied with one person they might go on to another to fulfil their needs and validate themselves.
Becoming aware of your husband's infidelity is a painful experience, but it doesn't necessarily mean the end of your relationship. A man can cheat and still wholeheartedly love his wife. Infidelity can happen even in happy marriages, and it's important to understand that it's not your fault.
A study of 495 people revealed eight key reasons: anger, low self-esteem, lack of love, low commitment, need for variety, neglect, sexual desire, and circumstance. 1 It's important to understand that these reasons arise within the cheater and are not the responsibility of the betrayed partner.
Often people who cheat tell themselves that their behavior is justified because their partner doesn't really care about them and therefore wouldn't care if they strayed. They might justify their actions by blaming their S.O. for not showing them enough affection or not seeming to care about them anymore.
So fairly or unfairly, cheaters do get their karma in some way or the other. It's a fallacy to think that people who stray have it easy. While the reason for entering an affair might be different for each person, it is common for cheaters to feel guilt, shame, anxiety, worry, and other negative emotions.
Most often, people who cheat cite reasons like: being dissatisfied sexually with their partner. unfulfilled sexual desire. being emotionally unsatisfied.
How Many Couples Stay Together After an Affair? In one study, researchers found that with instances of secret infidelity, only about 20% of couples were still married after 5 years. However, for couples who revealed infidelity, that percentage jumped to 57%.
Certain personality factors often coincide with serial cheating, such as narcissism, sociopathy, and problems with impulse control. These variables tend to be fixed and pervasive across the lifespan. That means they don't usually just show up in relationships.
Some statistics say only about 25% of cheaters leave their spouses for affair partners. If both affair partners are married, that number is even lower. Even if you do end up divorcing as the result of your affair, the likelihood that you will end up marrying your affair partner is only about 3-5%.