Confronting the Other Woman: Take Off Blinders

When confronting the other woman or other man, it is important to study, research, and reading to know what possibly faces you.

Do not assume that the other person will listen to you or even come close to agreeing with your situation.

Do not assume that the other person is thinking clearly (a characteristic of infidelity is thinking marked by delusions and rationalizations.)

Do not assume the other person cares about you. An affair is marked by intense personal need meeting and that assumes all priority.

Take some time to reflect on the type of affair your spouse has chosen. That will guide you in the way you approach the other person.

If you spouse is strongly aligned with the other person and does not exhibit ambivalence about the affair, confronting the other person does not stand a good chance of succeeding.

Here’s a case study of a woman who gave little forethought to the confrontation (although it was a great learning experience for her):

1. What was your purpose for confronting the OP and what did you say/do?

I wanted to let her know what she was doing to me and to my children. I wanted her to know that it was not the fantasy that she envisioned but was reality because there was a wife and children.

2. What happened? What was the outcome?

She did not care and went on acting as if she was the wife and not the mistress. They grew closer and I was the outsider.

3. If you were to do it again, would you do it differently? What did you learn?

I’m not sure that I wouldn’t do it again. I can’t say. I would do some things differently such as not giving them the power they had over me. I let them control the situation. I learned that you can’t change anyone unless they want to be changed.

Comments

  1. I feel like an idiot in trying to confront her. I gave her even more power and showed that I was helpless.

  2. I confronted the OW…she did tell me ‘sorry’ for what she did..but she said. that the chemistry and how wonderful my husband was, had her in love with him, and that she knew he loved her too…she never backed down, and told me she would do anything to go after him, always, and will not settle for him coming back to me…that she would do anything..to have him..that she didnt care if he came back to me…that she would do anything in her power to bring him back to her..

    and, yes, she did just that..she used non-stop manipulation, acting out even self mutilation and suicidal attemps…she is that crazy and dysfunctional…she even accussed me of having done ‘witchcraft’ on him, when, he ‘ran away’ from her house to be back home”……but, after he’ escaped’ back to us…she pursued him again..with her tactics.he couldnt put an end to it..so i told him to leave and be with her….and he is with her now..again..he is 50 and she is 45….so these are no 2 crazy teenagers..but they act like it….so be it…

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