Navigating the Storm: Therapy for Betrayed Partners During the Perinatal Period

Posted: August 3, 2025

Perinatal Betrayed Partners Therapy: Healing from Infidelity During Pregnancy and Postpartum

When the Birth of a Child Is Shadowed by Betrayal

The perinatal period—spanning pregnancy through the first year after birth—is often imagined as a time of joy, connection, and hope. But for many women, this sacred time is clouded by the shock and devastation of partner betrayal.

Whether you discovered an emotional or sexual affair, pornography addiction, online infidelity, or compulsive sexual behaviors during pregnancy or shortly after giving birth, the impact can be soul-crushing.

The betrayal not only fractures your relationship but also threatens your emotional and physical well-being at a time when you’re already navigating massive hormonal shifts, sleep deprivation, and identity transitions.

What Is Perinatal Betrayal Trauma?

Perinatal betrayal trauma occurs when a woman experiences infidelity or sexual betrayal during the childbearing years, especially while pregnant or in the postpartum period.

This trauma can involve:

Sexual or emotional affairs during pregnancy or after childbirth
Secret pornography use or compulsive sexual behaviors
Emotional gaslighting or denial when you confront the truth
Disclosure of hidden behavior during an already vulnerable time
Lack of empathy, support, or presence from your partner during parenting transitions

Common Emotional & Psychological Effects

Experiencing betrayal while also adjusting to pregnancy, birth, and postpartum changes may lead to symptoms such as:

Hypervigilance and scanning behavior (“What else is he hiding?”)
Increased anxiety, panic attacks, or obsessive thinking
Severe trust issues and fear of abandonment
Postpartum depression or perinatal mood disorders
Distorted body image, sexual disconnection, or dissociation
Shame, guilt, or self-blame for the betrayal or relationship breakdown
Difficulty bonding with the baby due to emotional overwhelm

These are not signs of weakness. These are natural trauma responses to emotional harm at a deeply vulnerable life stage.

How Therapy Helps: Trauma-Informed, Attachment-Sensitive, Woman-Centered

Healing from betrayal during the perinatal period requires more than generalized therapy. It requires a specialized, attuned, and evidence-based approach—one that honors your motherhood, validates your trauma, and restores your agency.

In our work together, I integrate:

Partner Betrayal Trauma Therapy

Using frameworks like the APSATS Multi-Dimensional Partner Trauma Model and the Facing Heartbreak workbook, we will support your healing from betrayal using tools that are specific to your lived experience, validating and contextualizing your pain without pathologizing it.

Perinatal & Reproductive Mental Health

As a maternal mental health-informed clinician, I address the unique emotional and physical needs of women during pregnancy, postpartum, and lactation. This includes support for:

Perinatal anxiety and depression
Attachment disruptions
Identity shifts in motherhood.
Breastfeeding and sexual trauma crossover
Postpartum rage or emotional dysregulation

Somatic & Nervous System Stabilization

Your body holds the trauma. Through grounding practices, breathwork, mindfulness, and polyvagal-informed tools, we work to bring safety back into your nervous system and help you regulate painful emotions without shutting down.

Sexual Healing and Intimacy Restoration (When Ready)

You may feel repulsed, numb, avoidant, or unsure about sex. All of this is normal. I gently help clients explore consent-based, body-honoring approaches to sexual recovery, including working through body betrayal, aversion, and boundary redefinition.

Couples Therapy (Only If Safe and Appropriate)

Using the Gottman Method Couples Therapy, I support couples in rebuilding trust after stabilization and full disclosure have taken place. We will never rush reconciliation or minimize your pain. If your partner is doing the work through CSAT therapy or recovery groups, couples therapy may be a future option, on your terms.

Your Baby Deserves a Healthy, Empowered Mother—So Do You

When you’re betrayed while becoming a mother, it can feel like your world has collapsed, just when you were supposed to feel supported and secure. You may fear how this will affect your child, your future, and your ability to love or trust again.

The good news? Healing is possible.

And you don’t have to do it alone.

Real-World Scenarios I Often Support:

A new mother discovers her partner has been sexting others while she’s breastfeeding their infant.
A pregnant client experiences emotional betrayal and gaslighting, causing panic attacks and sleep loss.
A woman in her second trimester learns her partner is in recovery for sex addiction and must decide how to proceed.
A wife attending postpartum therapy realizes she is being emotionally manipulated and begins setting boundaries.
A mother with a 3-week-old baby feels shame and numbness about intimacy after discovering pornography use.

How to Begin

If you’re a perinatal betrayed partner, you deserve therapy that sees the whole you—mother, woman, survivor, and human being. Whether you’re considering separation, struggling to parent through your pain, or trying to make sense of what comes next, I offer a safe, informed, and nonjudgmental space.

Now Accepting New Clients (In-Person or Online)

Specialized Perinatal Betrayal Trauma Therapy for individuals and couples in Newport Beach and across California.

Complimentary 20-minute video consultation

Bilingual English/Spanish

Safe for LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and interfaith couples

Trauma-informed, compassionate care

Support for polygraph referrals, formal disclosure preparation, and boundary building

Email: info@dremelinabelle.com 📍 Newport Beach, CA | Online for all California residents

You are worthy of support, healing, and peace, no matter what your partner has done. Your voice matters. Let’s begin.