Once a Cheater, Always a Cheater?
It's a common cliche. An old adage.
Is it really true?
One couple came to see me for marital therapy. It's a case of the husband serially cheating on his wife.
The husband admitted having affairs several times in the few years of their marriage. He claimed he had the affairs just for sex and that he loved his wife and had a great sex life with her.
For a time during therapy, the relationship somewhat improved. The husband observed abstinence from his affairs. They learned better skills communicating and loving.
Then, the husband was caught contacting and seeing his affair partner again. Evidently the wife noticed no prior signs of the repeated cheating for he remained privately loving to her.
The wife felt something was wrong which she called an "invisible barrier" between them. But she couldn't put her finger on it.
According to findings presented at an American Psychological Association annual convention, they found that people who cheat on their partners once are approximately 3 1/2 times more likely to cheat again.
I find it interesting that this finding did not apply only on those doing the cheating. They saw that those who were cheated on in one relationship were also more likely to be cheated on again.
Judging from the number of cases I've seen, cheaters do tend to cheat again. But I'd say not everyone. Some do change completely.
Once a cheater, always a cheater?
That gets to be true I must agree ... unless the root psychological wounds or unmet needs of the cheater are sufficiently dealt with.
Here are some possible underlying themes within cheaters I suspect exists:
• a never-ending quest of the cheater to make up for what he or she did not get as a child
• the more shame and guilt the cheater experiences, the more it tends to be projected onto the partner
• the cheating may be used to punish himself/herself or humiliate the partner
• a "bad me" core belief that leads to addictions for temporary relief
Bad habits are known to be hard to break. That includes the habit of cheating.
In reality, cheaters need clinical intervention to prevent repeated disasters.
(Watch TV Video, ABS CBN SAKTO: Dr. Subida's talks on cheating/infidelity with Amy Perez and Mark Logan)