LibraryScenariosWhen family members carry secrets about infidelity that affect group dynamics
Scenario

When family members carry secrets about infidelity that affect group dynamics

My brother's wife cheated and he confided in me, but now at family gatherings I can barely look at her and my parents keep asking why I'm being cold, and I don't know if I'm protecting my brother's privacy or enabling everyone to pretend our family dynamic hasn't completely changed.

Mira
Online
The coach is replying

More people experience this than they realize.

What we've seen

Holding someone else's betrayal creates a secondary betrayal of the family system, where the secret-keeper becomes complicit in a collective fiction.

Ideas that help explain it
Worth thinking about

“Where Are You with Infidelity — all perspectives?”

If this sounds familiar, the Library can help you find the bigger picture.