Infidelity: How Your Body Responds
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Written by doohealth
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Wednesday, 20 February 2008 |
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Infidelity is an epidemic, according to Dr. Bonnie Eaker Weil, Ph.D., a New York City-based marital therapist, and author of Make Up, Don't Break Up and Adultery, The Forgivable Sin. "It poses as serious a problem to emotional health as incest or child abuse."
Physically, women are susceptible to illnesses such as cancer, pneumonia and multiple sclerosis. "Your immune system breaks down when you are bombarded with mental strain and stress," says Dr. Weil. Women can even suffer heart attacks from holding in their anger. Other physical problems may include anxiety, headaches, depression, loss of appetite, and insomnia. You may have a hard time fighting off colds or the flu. It's also possible to suffer from fatigue syndrome and connective tissue disorders. Emotionally, it's common to feel devastated and lose perspective of who you are. You may even struggle with embarrassment, isolation, and low self-esteem. Learning that a spouse has been unfaithful is second only to physical violence in the harm it does to your mental health, according to a national public opinion poll by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT). The most severely traumatized are usually those who had the greatest trust for their mates. Victims may experience a profound sense of loss and/or suicidal thoughts. "A spouse's unfaithfulness is the most painful experience that can be inflicted in marriage," says Willard F. Harley, Jr., Ph.D., author of His Needs, Her Needs: Building an Affair-proof Marriage, and co-author of Surviving an Affair. "It is worse than physical or verbal abuse." Dr. Harley, a clinical psychologist in White Bear Lake, Minn., has helped millions of couples through his Web site, Marriagebuilders.com. He says that a husband's infidelity is more damaging to a woman's health and takes longer to get over than being raped. "It's devastating because you are attacked emotionally by the person you trusted most, unlike a rapist, who you never trusted in the first place.”
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 21 February 2008 )
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