The Trauma Lives On: Adult Children of Unfaithful Parents

Using case studies, Dr. Ortman will demonstrate how to recognize the effects of parental infidelity in adult clients and how to address it as part of a therapy program. Dysfunction often pervades in family units where there has been a major violation such as an infidelity. Parents cannot help but be caught up in the emotional aftermath, and may suffer from depression, anxiety, detachment, numbing, and a number of other symptoms. Depending on their developmental stage, children will adopt different coping styles and ways of relating to their emotionally-damaged parents which can have long-standing consequences after the immediate trauma of the infidelity is over.