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Crazy Behavior Addresses Craziness Meet John, one of 19 people interviewed in Dr. Huizenga's audio series, "19 Live Infidelity Coaching Sessions." You will learn:
Here's John's summary of his situation: My wife left three days before Christmas of 2006. We had been arguing previously on and off. The usual is money and children discipline. She had told me she was going to counseling and would not talk to me about it. When I asked about another person she replied yes and she was in love. i told her I don't want a fake Christmas and if you are going to leave you should just leave. With that she said sorry and left totally leaving behind three teenage girls and me. She cut off all ties with her parents and one month later quit her job where she was a manager for an office for 8 years. She moved in with the other person and has been living there at his house since. We had very little contact and my children now absolutely hate their mother. I have no problems with them. Her parents are fully behind me but are at the end of their rope and want to see this go away. It has been 4 1/2 months she has been gone. She has become more juvenile and angry and rarely calls to the children anymore. Maybe once every two weeks or so and then it gets nasty. She has threatened me in the last two weeks with the police and has brought this other person to our house to get her belongings. I believe she was trying to set me up but it has failed along with everything else she has tried. She seems be trying to ram this new relationship down everyone's throats and trying to get us to accept this and her. She is totally opposite of what she used to be. I have very rarely contacted her because of her spewing and anger towards me. I am basically the blame for everything. She has to this day not asked for a divorce directly but has alluded to it. When she is called on her actions she says I am not doing nothing wrong or what did I do. We are all confused and hope you can help. Questions 1. Is is worth it to stay in the marriage and try to work it out. 2. Is it a midlife crisis and will it pass. 3. How do I deal with her blaming and spewing. 4. Everything goes good and then she calls and I dwell on it and it lasts for several days until she goes dark again. All I do is talk about it and try to rationalize the behavior. 5. Is there anything I can do to find answers. 6. Is there anything to do to stop the hurt. 7. Is it all my fault. Dr. Huizenga's review of the Laser Coaching Session: I frequently encounter a relationship where one goes off the deep end by unexpectedly entering into an extramarital affair. Everyone is shocked. The new behavior is in stark contrast to what and whom s/he was. Turmoil and confusion tear at the family and friends. This scenario is evident in the taped session with John. I've summarized some of the characteristics which John brings up in the session. Here they are: 1. Behavioral change is sudden and dramatic. John's wife moved from a loving caring wife to an angry, blaming, neglectful mother, cutting herself off from family and friends. It erupted seemingly overnight. Is this a midlife crisis? Not in classic terms. Midlife crisis, if you want to use that term, usually descends gradually. Changes are gradual. The crisis is more of a brooding, an inner reflection whereby previously unasked questions are now front and center of one's mind. John's wife's behavior exploded out of nowhere. This behavior is more typical, at least from my experience, of someone suddenly confronted internally by memories, images and residue from past trauma. The person may or may not be aware of that residue. 2. Such behavior is often characterized by a lack of boundaries. Of course, aren't most extramarital affairs a violation of personal and relational boundaries? In John's case the violation seems extreme. For example, John relays a time when she told John, in front of her teenage daughters, that she just had sex with another man! Ouch! Can you image what that must be like for a teenage daughter trying to get comfortable with her own sexuality? 3. The blame game predominates. To avoid her pain, guilt and lack of self worth the acting out person often projects blame onto someone else. This coincides with particular characteristics of the "My Marriage Made Me Do It" type of affair outlined in Break Free From the Affair. Others close to her are attacked and made to be the villain. She refuses to accept responsibility for her own actions, which at a deeper level, reflect an inability to manage her feelings and thoughts. 4. She cuts herself off from family and friends. She enters another world. These worlds may seem to her to be unique and distinct from each other. It's as if she is two different people. And, to some degree she is. There may not be much overlap in these two worlds. John's role is difficult, but fairly well defined. Although bombarded with questions and doubts, John holds himself together and forges ahead. These are the important tasks for John... For the rest of the review and access to the taped coaching session, please refer to this box:
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