Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Hysterical Bonding

18 replies

worrieddadof2 · 26/03/2015 21:07

I didnt want to hijack someone elses thread that this is mentioned in.

Do you think this is initiated by the "cheater" and is actually an admission of guilt, or is the "victim" reclaiming their partner?
Alternatively it could be somewhere in between, middle ground.
I've experienced this myself and yet could not really give a clear answer on it.
Im curious as it might paint a different picture on things.

OP posts:
Quitelikely · 26/03/2015 21:10

I think it is the woman trying to reclaim the partner and the man taking advantage of her to get lots of sex.

I could be wrong. Just my thoughts.

worrieddadof2 · 26/03/2015 21:20

So even if the woman is the cheater, she is reclaiming the husband, and he is taking advantage?

OP posts:
AnyFucker · 26/03/2015 21:26

The way I understand hysterical bonding is best explained by chumplady

op, your wife cheated, yes ?

now you are both instigating lots of sex...you to "reclaim" her in a demeaning version of the "pick me dance" (also ref: chump lady) and her to bamboozle you into thinking there is hope that this can all be swept away in a rush of post sex brain-numbing hormones

it's not a good thing, long term

many people who engage in hysterical bonding regret it

worrieddadof2 · 26/03/2015 21:32

she had an EA, i posted back in january and someone explained then about this theory. Having read other people threads where this had been mentioned, they all appear to be physical affairs. Thats what got me thinking, do i not have the full story.

OP posts:
AnyFucker · 26/03/2015 21:32

I remember your thread. I don't think you ever had the full story.

worrieddadof2 · 26/03/2015 21:52

I remember your replies well AF Smile straight to the point.
I said a non-physical affair, but i know the kissed once, im not sure if that would qualify. It was that email i saw that confirmed to me (so i thought) that nothing else happened. It was him saying to her "yes we should not have kissed, but we can remain as close friends without any feeling of guilt".

OP posts:
AnyFucker · 26/03/2015 21:54

has she cut all contact with him ?

dreamingofblueskies · 26/03/2015 22:00

I don't fully remember the details of your January thread, but just wanted to say that my husband had an EA, and I know for a fact that's all it was, they were 350 miles apart, but we still had a period of hysterical bonding.

I don't know what caused it between us but I know that we both wanted it and I'm pretty sure I wasn't doing the 'pick me dance', I don't think I even wanted to stay wih him at the time.

So just wanted to say that just because you are having a period of hysterical bonding it doesn't necessarily mean that it was a physical affair.

Hope you're ok and managing as well as you can.

worrieddadof2 · 26/03/2015 22:22

Yes she has cut all ties, she last sent him an email 26th january saying not to contact her again. He did about 4 later saying he really missed her, but she never replied.
Things between us have been great and back to "normal", however there isnt a day gone by that i havent thought about it.
Im hoping that will fade in time, i wouldnt wish this feeling on anyone.

OP posts:
AnyFucker · 26/03/2015 22:27

I am sorry Thanks

Spellcheck · 26/03/2015 22:38

Did this after (during? Who knows) exH's affair which was emotional leading to physical. It was partly the Pick Me dance, and partly his permanently aroused state owing to his infatuation. Fucking horrible, and totally demeaning. I will never, ever let anyone treat me like that again.

I wish you well, OP.

iwashappy · 26/03/2015 22:54

I would guess that the person who has been cheated on (both man and woman) feels a need to reclaim their partner. The woman cheater feels a need to make it up to her partner in the most obvious way whereas the man cheater wants the sex anyway.

Those are my thoughts, I stand to be corrected. Personally when I knew that my ex-DH had cheated I couldn't imagine ever having sex with him again knowing he'd been intimate with another woman, touching me the way he had touched her, I couldn't do it.

I am sorry about your wife OP but good that she has cut contact. I hope it works out for you.

CurlyWurlyCake · 26/03/2015 23:03

Wow. I respect all the replies and I'm sorry op, I don't have an answer to your question.

I'm now I realising I've done/am doing the pick me dance Sad

AnyFucker · 26/03/2015 23:05

that's going to do your self respect a whole load of damage, curly Sad

Brandnewstart · 26/03/2015 23:13

I did the 'pick me' dance... I regret it whole heartedly. I am now trying to do the 'fuck you' dance. Hoping it will help me regain some self worth!

iwashappy · 26/03/2015 23:19

Sorry Curly, hope you are okay. I hope he's worthy of you. x

Gralick · 27/03/2015 01:20

My understanding of hysterical bonding is that it's more fundamental than partners trying to corral one another back into a relationship. It's what happens amongst people during a major disaster: shock and urgency rip away social routines & defences; people can form very strong, intimate bonds almost instantly. It's an animal-brain thing (not a technical term, that) which feels incredibly real, intense, like destiny. The illusion's total but it is an illusion. It wears off when the panic - and the apocalyptic pair-bonding - recedes. 99 times out of a hundred, the hysterically bonded pair will see each other properly for the first time and realise there is no compatibility ... although they often stay in touch for a long time, as no other person has been through that enormous experience with them.

The relationship version is the same mechanism. I've been through it dozens of times in abusive relationships; it sets in during the aftermath of a fight, then things settle and you start moving towards the next fight. It's one of the reasons people find it hard to break out of the abusive cycle.

You've been through something cataclysmic, worried. Your world as you knew it was shaken apart. This is the aftermath.

I'm not saying other factors don't come into play as well, like "pick me" and "let's pretend it never happened". Humans are complicated: of course various factors get jumbled up! In my experience, the games your relationship played beforehand come to the fore now, as well, because everything's in emotional high relief. If you've read Eric Berne's Games People Play, you may have recognised some things from your own life. Two very popular ones are 'Courtroom' and 'Now I've Got You'.

It is sad that your trust in your relationship has been shaken. On top of the utter shock, it knocks your confidence and that takes a long time to restore properly. You may or may not stay together, I don't know. But I think it's very healthy to observe what's going on emotionally, primarily in yourself, and also in your partner - I mean, not necessarily what she's saying and demonstrating about her feelings but what you can observe independently.

Gralick · 27/03/2015 01:22

I did the 'pick me' dance... I regret it whole heartedly. I am now trying to do the 'fuck you' dance.

I like your style!

New posts on this thread. Refresh page