Long-Term Betrayal Trauma Recovery Resources
Long-Term Betrayal Trauma Recovery Resources
Sex addiction and betrayal trauma is a relatively new field in psychology. Because of this, many of the available resources focus primarily on the earlier stages of recovery. While those resources are essential, there is also a strong need for support in the later stages of betrayal trauma, where guidance can be much harder to find. Below, I’ve collected some resources and focus areas that can be helpful in long-term recovery. These suggestions are intended for those who have already established safety, gained truth, and developed as much understanding as possible about what happened.
Complex PTSD
If you’ve worked through establishing safety and truth within the betrayal you experienced but still feel stuck, complex PTSD may be playing a role. I think of this as layers of trauma. When something traumatic (big or small) happens, our nervous system stores it unless it has been fully processed. When another trauma occurs that feels similar, even if it’s very different in nature, it can attach to that same memory network. Over time, this creates layers of unresolved trauma.
Betrayal trauma is often complex in itself since it affects multiple areas of life. Add in earlier or unrelated traumas, and you can find yourself with a tangled web of pain that needs deeper work. Returning to unresolved trauma and processing those layers may be necessary. Treatments such as EMDR can be especially helpful here.
Healthy Sexuality
When sexual betrayal has occurred, it’s very common for your own sense of sexuality to feel confusing, disrupted, or even unsafe. After establishing safety and truth, an important area of healing is rediscovering what healthy sexuality looks like for you. If you’re partnered, cultivating healthy sexuality together can eventually become an important part of the recovery process as well. Here are some resources I recommend:
Book: Come As You Are
Podcast: Sex with Emily
Infographic:Characteristics of Sexually Healthy Adults
Self-Trust
Betrayal often shakes the very foundation of self-trust. Rebuilding it is a crucial part of long-term recovery, whether or not you remain partnered. This process involves cultivating self-compassion, addressing thought distortions, and relearning how to trust your own inner wisdom.
Self-trust is strengthened through community (such as therapy groups), mindfulness practices, trauma-focused therapy, and working with a therapist to challenge unhelpful thought patterns.
Honoring the Process
Healing from betrayal is rarely linear, but instead it’s a journey full of ups and downs. Taking intentional time to honor your process can help you recognize your strength and resilience.
This might look like:
Burying a disclosure document and planting a tree to mark your growth.
Pausing to reflect on your values and how you’re living them out.
Writing your story and sharing it with a trusted friend.
This step is deeply personal and can be revisited many times, in many different ways.
Continued Couple’s Work
If you’ve chosen to remain partnered, you and your partner have likely done significant healing work together. Many couples describe their relationship post-recovery as freer, without the invisible wall they once felt between them.
Once the deeper work of betrayal recovery has been done, it can be valuable to return to more traditional couple’s therapy to focus on areas such as communication struggles, intimacy, or household responsibilities. The Gottman Institute offers excellent tools and resources to support this stage of growth.
Final Thoughts
This is by no means an exhaustive list of resources for long-term betrayal trauma recovery, but I hope it gives you a meaningful starting place. The amount of content available can feel overwhelming, and it’s not always easy to discern what’s truly helpful. One way to guide your search is to ask yourself: “What am I hoping to get out of this particular resource?” This question can bring clarity to your process while also fostering deeper self-reflection.
Most importantly, you don’t have to go through this alone. If you don’t already have one, consider reaching out to a qualified therapist who can walk alongside you on this journey.
About The Author
Jorden Groenink, MS, LMFT, APCC a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT154707) and an Associate Professional Clinical Counselor (APCC12906), supervised by Jeremy Mast, MS, MDiv, LMFT, CSAT, CPTT (CA90961). She has been trained in Experiential Therapy and loves working with couples and individuals who want to experience a more fulfilling life. Jorden wholeheartedly believes that every person is worthy of love and relationship. When not working with clients or listening to audiobooks, Jorden enjoys spending time with her family (husband, dog, & cat) and doing DIY projects around her house.
