Treating Affair Couples: Clinical Considerations and Initial Findings

Infidelity can have devastating effects on couples' relationships. Not only are couples typically confused and uncertain about how to proceed, but couple therapists also report that treating infidelity is one of their greatest clinical challenges. In the current article, we present a conceptual model of response to infidelity with a corresponding infidelity-specific, couple-based intervention. This intervention incorporates interventions from cognitive-behavioral, insight-oriented, trauma-based, and forgiveness approaches to working with couples. In addition to this intervention created specifically for treating infidelity, we discuss how existing, empirically supported couple therapies such as traditional behavioral couple therapy (TBCT) and integrative behavioral couple therapy (IBCT) approach the treatment of infidelity. Finally, we present preliminary findings from two small treatment studies that provide initial, encouraging findings for the utility of the infidelity-specific intervention as well as TBCT and IBCT for treating infidelity.