How to Deal With a Serial Cheater
For the person being cheated on, this behavior could feed into past trauma and actually keep the partner engaged in a negative loop.
For the person cheating, doing it again after having done it in the past might reinforce negative self-beliefs. “For the cheater, it could be out of their control, with addiction or impulse issues negatively impacting their self-esteem,” says Ratush. In fact, he tells us that the situation might be so out of their control that “some serial cheaters, especially those prone to addiction, can be so emotionally possessed that they will put a loving relationship at risk just to fulfill their compulsive needs.”
How to Identify a Serial Cheater
Now that you know some characteristics and behaviors of a serial cheater, it should be easier to discern the warning signs. Here’s how to identify that someone has a history of cheating, or that in doing it now, it isn’t the first time.
Top signs of a serial cheater
- They have poor relationships with others. “One important place to look is their relationship with their parents, siblings, and friends,” says Ratush. (more…)
