The revelation of a partner’s affair (sexual or emotional) comes as a shock to the hurt partner, even when doubts exist. The loss of trust in a relationship is no different from a physical loss. The closeness of the relationship and the hurt partner’s perception of preventability were identified as predictors of the grieving process’s intensity and duration in a study on human grief by LA Bugen in 1977. The predictors wouldn’t be different in the case of trust loss as well. This blog talks about the 5 stages of grief.