Betrayal is not Exclusive in Romantic Relationships. What Is Betrayal In Relationships? 

As a relationship coach, it is crystal clear to us that betrayal in relationships is not exclusive to romantic relationships only. Anyone can be betrayed, whatever the kind of relationship he has. If someone has ever betrayed you, then you know what the sting of betrayal feels like. 

Such pain can leave the deepest wounds which can either turn into deeper wounds over time or scars if we are lucky. 

During coaching sessions, we have come to realize that any kind of betrayal can cause emotional suffering which can last for years. 

But before knowing what betrayal is in a relationship, we have to first get to know how betrayal is formed, and what it means to love someone deeply. 

You can also learn how to manage your stress during these moments through  Master Your Emotions, and Healing From within.

What Does Loving Someone Mean? 

There’s a very popular metaphor about loving someone, that is, when you love someone, you hand them a gun and direct it to your heart while trusting them not to shoot. 

As a relationship coach, you have seen that a lot during coaching sessions with your clients. This is literally how we feel about someone we love or trust, except that we do not expect them to shoot, sometimes, they don’t expect themselves to shoot as well. 

If they have, they wouldn’t have given conscious promises to love us forever and protect us from everything that might hurt us.

The one forgotten promise in relationships is that they will always protect us from themselves as well as others. 

What Does Betrayal Do? 

Betrayal can cause trauma along with lingering pain and emotional turmoil. This can be caused when betrayed by a parent, a friend, or even a romantic partner. 

Unfortunately, when you rely on someone to give you the love you need as a type of basic need, you might accept betrayal to make up for the lack of love you would experience away from them.

You might also find yourself accepting future betrayals just for the sake of receiving the love you need. 

Over the long run, this will cause you to experience low self-esteem along with degraded emotional well-being. 

Moreover, this will cause you to experience negative forms of attachments with the people around you and the people you love. 

People often react to betrayal by pushing the person who betrayed them away from them. As had been noted before, this may not be the case when you rely on the person who betrayed you for basic needs. 

Things can be fueled also by financial needs or social needs which may not be met outside the relationship. 

When the betrayed person does not acknowledge such consequences of staying in the relationship, they might end up burying the drama and not dealing with it. As a result, they would experience unfinished business with the past which will always haunt them. 

One thing that we must acknowledge about betrayal is that it is not a partnership whatsoever. Yes, the betrayer can be motivated by the actions of the other person, however, it is not an excuse but rather a reason. We choose whether to react or respond and if our partner in the relationship decides to betray us rather than communicating effectively then 

it is on them not us. In many cases, the betrayer would admit that they tried speaking to their partner about their situation several times but did not yield success. In such a case, ending the relationship could have been an option. 

The Bright Side of Betrayal

Betrayal is one of the ugliest and most painful experiences that we may experience in life. However, we must acknowledge that some people will do it no matter how good things are, others will never do it no matter how bad things are.