Betrayal Trauma Therapy in Horsham, PA
And virtually across Pennsylvania
When trust breaks, nothing feels steady anymore
Discovering a partner’s infidelity can feel like the ground dropping out from underneath you.
Not just heartbreak, but shock.
Confusion.
A constant sense of uncertainty you can’t talk yourself out of.
If you’re wondering why you feel anxious, on edge, numb, consumed by details, or like you don’t recognize yourself anymore, you’re not overreacting. These responses are common after relational betrayal, and betrayal trauma therapy can help.
When trust is broken by someone you’re deeply attached to, your sense of safety doesn’t just take an emotional hit. It can unravel how you experience yourself, your relationship, and the world around you.
If you’ve experienced betrayal trauma, we’re here to help.
What Is Betrayal Trauma?
Betrayal trauma is a form of attachment-related trauma. It occurs when harm is caused by someone you rely on for emotional safety, security, and connection.
In romantic relationships, we entrust parts of ourselves we don’t entrust anywhere else. We attach. We plan. We build meaning around shared trust.
When infidelity or relational betrayal occurs, that foundation is disrupted. For many people, this isn’t simply emotional pain, it’s a deep relational shock.
Betrayal trauma is considered a type of complex trauma because it involves an attachment injury, not just a single distressing event. It can shake how you understand your past, destabilize your present, and fill the future with uncertainty.
Why Infidelity Can Feel So Destabilizing
As humans, we are wired for connection. Early in life, we rely on caregivers to meet our needs and help us feel safe in the world. When caregivers are emotionally attuned, responsive, and present, we develop a foundation of trust, in ourselves, in others, and in relationships.
When caregivers are unable to meet those needs consistently, attachment wounds can form. These wounds often involve emotional neglect, invalidation, parentification, feeling ignored or unimportant, or growing up with the sense that you were never quite enough. Because they happen within close relationships, and often without obvious danger, they’re frequently tolerated rather than recognized as trauma.
Discovering a partner’s infidelity can reactivate these earlier attachment injuries.
The person who once felt safe now feels unpredictable or threatening. Even if you logically understand that you’re not in physical danger, your system may respond as if something fundamental has been lost.
This is why infidelity trauma can feel so overwhelming, disorienting, and consuming.
Common Symptoms of Betrayal Trauma
Feeling constantly on edge or scanning for signs of danger
Intrusive thoughts or replaying details of the betrayal
Difficulty trusting your partner — or yourself
Intense self-doubt or questioning your judgment
Shame or self-blame
Emotional numbness or shutdown
Changes in appetite or eating behaviors
Difficulty communicating needs or feeling heard in relationships
A sense of losing yourself inside the relationship
Many people experiencing betrayal trauma appear high-functioning on the outside while feeling deeply unsettled on the inside.
Why Betrayal Trauma Therapy Is Different From “Just Talking It Through”
After discovering infidelity, people are often encouraged to focus on communication, decision-making, or forgiveness.
But betrayal trauma doesn’t live only in the story of what happened.
It lives in how safety, trust, and attachment were disrupted.
Until you feel steadier inside, clarity can be hard to access. Insight alone often doesn’t ease the fear, hypervigilance, or emotional shutdown that follow relational betrayal.
Betrayal trauma therapy focuses first on stabilization. Helping you regain a sense of internal safety and self-trust. From there, decisions about boundaries, relationships, and next steps can unfold with more clarity and less urgency.
How EMDR Therapy, Somatic Therapy and Trauma Focused Therapy Help Betrayal Trauma
At Reclaim, betrayal trauma therapy is attachment-informed, trauma-focused, and body-based.
EMDR Therapy
To help process the shock and distress connected to discovering infidelity. And, if you choose, to renegotiate attachment based trauma from earlier in your life.
Somatic Therapy
that support your system in releasing survival responses like hypervigilance, collapse, or emotional shutdown
Internal Family Systems (parts work)
A parts-informed approach that helps you understand and care for the different parts of you that may feel angry, ashamed, hypervigilant, or frozen, without judging or trying to “fix” them
The goal isn’t to erase what happened.
It’s to help this experience become a chapter of your life, not the defining story.
Meet Reclaim’s Betrayal Trauma Therapist
Bayley Safier
Serving trauma survivors in our Horsham, PA offices and online in Pennsylvania
Regaining Agency After Betrayal
A central goal of betrayal trauma therapy is restoring agency.
Not forcing forgiveness.
Not rushing decisions.
Not telling you what you should do.
But helping you feel grounded enough to make choices with confidence, clarity, and self-trust.
Post-traumatic growth doesn’t mean minimizing the pain of what happened. It means reclaiming your sense of self and moving forward with greater awareness and resilience.
Therapy helps you reconnect with your inner clarity, strengthen your voice, and rebuild relationships, with yourself and others, that are grounded in emotional safety and mutual respect.
Ready to Get Started? Here’s How!
step 1
Schedule your free consultation call with Sarah Below!
step 2
Meet with our Betrayal Trauma therapist, Bayley Saffier
step 3
Start your healing journey. You and your therapist will build a foundation of safety and trust, moving into reprocessing your trauma as you’re ready.
Starting Counseling for Betrayal Trauma Near Me
You don’t need to have all the answers to begin therapy.
You don’t need to know whether you’re staying or leaving.
You don’t need to feel calm yet.
Betrayal trauma therapy starts by helping you feel steadier, so you can decide what comes next.
If you’re looking for betrayal trauma therapy in Pennsylvania and want care that honors both the depth of the injury and your capacity for healing, our team is here to support you..
Frequently Asked Questions about Counseling for Betrayal Trauma
Can EMDR help betrayal trauma?
Yes. EMDR can help process the traumatic impact of discovering infidelity and reduce intrusive thoughts, emotional reactivity, and ongoing distress.
Is betrayal trauma the same as PTSD?
Betrayal trauma is often understood as a form of complex trauma or attachment-related trauma. While it may share features with PTSD, it specifically involves relational and attachment injuries.
How long does betrayal trauma last?
There’s no universal timeline. Healing depends on the level of attachment injury, the support available, and whether trauma-informed therapy is involved.
Do I need couples therapy after infidelity?
Not necessarily. Many people benefit from individual betrayal trauma therapy first, before deciding whether couples work feels appropriate.
Do you offer betrayal trauma therapy virtually?
We offer therapy for betrayal trauma in our Horsham, PA offices and also via telehealth to Pennsylvania residents.
What other specializations does Reclaim Therapy have?
We specialize in providing trauma therapy and EMDR therapy for Complex PTSD, PTSD and therapy for eating disorders.