Betrayal Trauma Therapy

Service Description

Discovering betrayal can feel devastating. The lies, secrecy, and sexual betrayal can leave you unable to sleep, focus, or feel safe in your own relationship. Intrusive thoughts replay what you learned. Your body stays on edge. Your sense of reality feels shaken. You are not overreacting. You are experiencing betrayal trauma. Betrayal trauma occurs when someone you depend on violates your trust through infidelity, pornography addiction, or compulsive sexual behavior. Your nervous system responds as if your safety has been threatened. This is why betrayal trauma often includes intense emotional and physical symptoms, not just heartbreak. Common experiences include: • Hypervigilance about your partner’s behavior • Intrusive thoughts and mental looping • Panic, nausea, insomnia, or chest tightness • Emotional flooding or numbness • Difficulty trusting yourself or your judgment Traditional couples therapy often misses these trauma responses and can unintentionally cause more harm. Betrayal trauma requires specialized, trauma-informed care. At Hopeful Hearts Counseling, betrayal trauma therapy focuses on your safety and healing first. Treatment follows a structured process designed to stabilize your nervous system, reduce trauma symptoms, and help you regain clarity. Early work centers on emotional regulation, grounding, and boundaries that protect you. When appropriate, structured disclosure is used to convey the truth without retraumatizing. Trauma processing, including Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), helps your brain reduce the emotional intensity of what you experienced, often in fewer sessions than expected. This service is appropriate if you are: • The betrayed partner seeking individual therapy • Coping with infidelity, deception, or sexual addiction • Experiencing trauma symptoms after discovering betrayal • Unsure whether to rebuild the relationship or move forward independently Your partner does not need to participate for you to heal. Individual therapy provides a confidential space to process anger, grief, confusion, and fear while rebuilding trust in yourself. Some relationships recover. Others end. Both outcomes are valid. Your healing is the priority. Hopeful Hearts Counseling offers Gottman-trained, trauma-informed betrayal trauma therapy, with telehealth services available throughout Utah. Located in Saratoga Springs and serving all of Utah County. You do not have to carry this alone. Support is available.