Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Is a Polygraph test degrading

58 replies

GoingCrazy99 · 29/01/2020 18:10

Long story sort, caught husband of 20years having an online emotional affair with someone he knows in another country.

Went on for 2months, sent photos, videos, etc so did get sexual.

He has admitted since telling her it's over that she made contact one time about 2 weeks later while she was drunk and told him she hated him and they exchanged a few texts over about 10minutes where he apologised for hurting her and said he couldn't be in contact.

He only just admitted this when I told him I want a polygraph to confirm this has been only contact after an argument last week. We have been trying to recover and reconcile for past couple of month since he told her it's over and it has generally been better, total transparency, leaves phones around, we have both been having individual and couples counseling.

He said he would do it but has tried to suggest waiting a while and then seeing if I still want one as might not if I feel our relationship is getting better and then this week when I said I want to book it this week, he suggested we discuss with our couples councillor before booking.

So had our session and she was totally down for it but did say I have to make an agreement if he does it that I can not bring up the past again, keep asking questions about affair and have to focus on the future not the past which I said I feel I will be able to do as will know that he has not been lying about it being over and not contacting her.

Want to start our new relationship with no secrets and feel this will settle all my fears that he has been keeping things from me.

He got annoyed in session which I thinks is cause he thought counsellor would be against the polygraph and said he will do it but doesn't want to do it as it's degrading.

I said I'm not going to force him and he asked but then what does that mean for us, and I said I'm not sure I need some truths for him, I had given him about 30 questions to answer that I said would be on polygraph that he had answered a day before all with the "right responses"

So in session he admitted that at the moment he does feel half like giving up and half working on us, that at the moment the main reason he is staying is for the children, that he was very flirty with her and started the inappropriate exchanges with her, did think of ways to contact her after he sent text to say it's over but he didn't do it and has made no contact. But was thinking/had feeling of her for about a month after saying it's over but now doesn't feel anything now, is like a bubble burst.

He was crying during these confessions and I really didn't think they were huge things to keep from me so I still feel like he is keeping something major from me which is why he doesn't want to do the polygraph.

Do you think it is degrading to make/ask someone to do a polygraph/lie detector test ? AIBU

OP posts:
BedStuy · 29/01/2020 18:11

They don't work.

user1473878824 · 29/01/2020 18:12

There’s a reason the police don’t use them any more, OP. They aren’t reliable and to be honest yes, I would find it quite demeaning.

ActualHornist · 29/01/2020 18:12

Well, they’re inadmissible in court because they’re not accurate and can be tricked.

The trust is completely gone in this relationship - you’d be better off dumping the dead horse instead of flogging it.

LatteLady · 29/01/2020 18:13

They don't work, give false positives and really won't make you feel any better.

SouthernComforts · 29/01/2020 18:13

I think if you are at the point of wanting a polygraph, you don't trust a word that comes out of his mouth, your relationship is over. I'd try to move on and seperate.

FenellaMaxwell · 29/01/2020 18:14

If you feel you need a polygraph surely that tells you more about your relationship than an actual polygraph.....

DesLynamsMoustache · 29/01/2020 18:14

I think you've been watching a bit too much Jezza Kyle

SerenDippitty · 29/01/2020 18:14

They’re rubbish.

theconstantinoplegardener · 29/01/2020 18:14

I don't think they're very accurate are they? If they were, courthouses around the country would presumably use them.

DPotter · 29/01/2020 18:16

Don't waste your time, money and any goodwill left between you. Polygraphs are totally meaningless - even if you could find anyone to perform them.
If you can't trust the guy, time to move on

Cohle · 29/01/2020 18:18

They're totally inaccurate.

More importantly, if there is so little trust between you that you want one then I think the relationship is over really.

CastleCrasher · 29/01/2020 18:19

His reaction sounds like someone who's scared of being "caught" by a polygraph, but that said, does it matter? It sounds like all trust is gone and no test is going to change that

Herpesfreesince03 · 29/01/2020 18:20

You do know the reason why the Jeremy Kyle show was cancelled? A guest committed suicide after the polygraph gave the wrong reading and he was humiliated on tv and lost his family? Experts on the show were forced to admit they’d be wrong over 40% of the time on occasions. Your relationship is dead

TildaKauskumholm · 29/01/2020 18:20

I didn't even know you could just book one! But seriously I couldn't stay with someone I felt like this about.

BlueJava · 29/01/2020 18:22

If you want one it tells you everything about your relationship that you need to know!

icannotremember · 29/01/2020 18:22

Polygraphs don't work and if you're at the stage of wanting your partner to take one, your relationship is probably over anyway.

user142745271 · 29/01/2020 18:25

They don't work. And you don't really have a relationship if you want him to take one.

FineWordsForAPorcupine · 29/01/2020 18:25

He's still lying to you - drip, drip, drip, only telling you the absolute least he can get away with.

A polygraph won't help - they are unreliable, and they won't fix the problem, which is that your husband cheated on you, lied to you, and kept lying even after he was found out.

GoingCrazy99 · 29/01/2020 18:29

Thank you for your responses, your right I don't trust him right now but it has been a short time.

Can trust be rebuilt ? he is doing a lot to rebuild it but I'm not there yet.

I guess that is my insecurities and my need for reassurance, it's good to see people do think the same as him that it is degrading and that maybe he really feels that way and isn't just trying to get out of doing it as he is keeping secrets.

OP posts:
adaline · 29/01/2020 18:36

Jeez. What's the point?

Stop wasting your time and find someone worthy of your efforts.

TestingTestingWonTooFree · 29/01/2020 18:39

They’re unreliable. I’m not sure how you rebuild trust when it sounds like he’s still not being honest.

FineWordsForAPorcupine · 29/01/2020 18:39

Can trust be rebuilt?

Trust isn't something that you can just decide to feel - you need solid, long term evidence that someone is trustworthy.

The example I always give is : imagine I told you that there was a teacup sized unicorn in the cupboard under the sink. I ask you to trust me that it exists. Can you force yourself to do that?

No. You can say that you believe me, you can act like you believe me, you can really really hope I'm telling the truth and you can desperately want to believe me, but deep down, you know its not true. You need me to open up the cupboard and prove it.

So you and your husband would probably both love it if you trusted him again. But he isn't trustworthy - he has lied and lied, and then lied some more. He is probably still lying.

hazell42 · 29/01/2020 18:44

You do not need proof
Either way, you do not need proof.
Decide whether you want this cheater in you life anymore.
If the answer is no, let him go , no matter what bullshit promises he makes

YasssKween · 29/01/2020 18:47

I think if you are at the point of wanting a polygraph, you don't trust a word that comes out of his mouth, your relationship is over. I'd try to move on and seperate.

Agree with a PP this level of distrust is almost impossible to come back from.

Once you trust someone so little (and often deservedly so, this isn't me having a go at you) you will find that the doubt seeps into your life like toxic waste.

It's always there and you never quite see the person the same again. A polygraph can't stop them telling a lie in the future either, so even if this time you got the "right" answers, you already know he would go a certain point with messaging someone else and don't know if he'd go further in future.

I know my love you want to save the relationship and for it all to be ok. You think that if you could just know everything you could start again.

But in real life, everyday laugh that just doesn't often work at all.

Once you lose fundamental trust in a partner, I've never known anyone to get it back to a healthy level of trust again.

GoingCrazy99 · 29/01/2020 18:51

I do want him in my life, I love him but right now the trust is gone, I like the teacup unicorn analogy, yes trust can not just be felt, but can't it be earned back.

Right now he does not deserve my trust. That will have to be earned back by him. So if he is sincerely remorseful and willing to work at it, he can help rebuild the lost trust so learning to trust him again will come from his actions in the future not from his past surely ?

OP posts:
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.

Swipe left for the next trending thread