Rebuild Your Marriage young couple by water
Rebuild Your Marriage 4 minute read

Toxic Shame Has No Place in Marriage Restoration

Last Updated: September 17, 2019

In this article I will use female pronouns for the betrayed spouse and male pronouns for the addict, because that is the focus of my work. Also, parts of this article focus on unique ways men react to shame. However, in no way do I mean to imply that sex addiction is not an issue that women can struggle with as well.

During every couple’s intensive that my husband Jeff and I facilitate, we spend three full days with a couple who is struggling with sexual addiction. Acting out behaviors range from pornography, to multiple affairs, to prostitution and everything in between. Regardless of the specific type of acting out, the trauma the wives have experienced due to the betrayal, secrets, and lies is extensive.

While my passion is supporting and advocating for partners of sex addicts, it is in the best interest of both partners to recognize the unique struggles being experienced by the addict. In this series, I will discuss shame, what it is, and how it prevents the male sex addict from being able to offer his wife the support she needs in order to aid in her healing and the restoration of the marriage.

Shame is a normal and healthy response.

As the addict confronts how his actions have harmed his wife, himself, and his relationship with God, shame is a normal and even healthy response. John Bradshaw, in his book, “Healing the Shame That Binds You,” states, “Healthy shame is essential as the foundation of our spirituality. By reminding us of our essential limitations, our healthy shame lets us know that we are not God. Our healthy shame points us in the direction of some larger meaning. Our healthy shame is the psychological ground of our humility.”

However, sex addicts too often get caught up in toxic shame that can keep them “me” focused. It inhibits empathy. Remaining stuck in toxic shame can prevent an addict from being able to step outside of himself and be present for his grieving wife. This kind of shame is deep-seated, often originating in childhood.

Bradshaw describes toxic shame as having a “demonic potential to encompass our whole personality. Instead of the momentary feeling of being limited, making a mistake, littleness, or being less attractive or talented than someone else, a person can come to believe that his whole self is fundamentally flawed and defective.”

This person is unable to experience healthy guilt, which says, “I made a mistake or a blunder, and I can repair that blunder.” Instead, they view themselves and each one of their actions as flawed and defective.

While no one in their right mind would describe sexual betrayal as a simple “blunder,” one can see how toxic shame can prevent a sex addict from being able to recognize that they have the capacity to put in the hard work to earn reconciliation in their marriage.

Two of the deeply rooted core beliefs of every sex addict, created by childhood abuse and neglect, were first introduced by sex addition treatment pioneer, Patrick Carnes. These are, “I am basically a bad, unworthy person” and “No one would love me as I am.”

With this belief system, how is fighting for a marriage even worth the effort since the addict doesn’t believe he deserves the marriage or that the battle could ever be a success since his wife will never love him?

What does this look like in real life?

It can look like a selfish, narcissistic individual who doesn’t care about his wife or how he has harmed her. It can look like a man grappling to stay above water by grasping at unhealthy coping mechanisms. For the addict who desperately wants freedom from his addiction, it can look like efforts to help his wife (because he does care and he doesn’t want to lose her), quickly followed by anger and defensiveness the moment she expresses valid anger and suffering, as his toxic shame rises to the surface.

In her 2012 Ted Talk, Listening to Shame, renowned author, researcher, speaker and expert on the topic of shame, Dr. Brene Brown argues that men and women experience shame differently. “For women, shame is a web of unattainable expectations that say, ‘Do it all, do it perfectly, and never let them see you struggle.’ For men, the primary shame mandate is, ‘Do not be perceived as weak.’”

As a wife attempts to set boundaries, a male addict stuck in toxic shame will often feel that if he agrees to all her “demands,” he is being weak. When she says, “I am scared of you acting out again and need to see you attend twelve-step meetings, install an accountability software on your devices, and attend counseling in order to feel safer,” he might hear, “You are incapable of taking charge of your own recovery and doing it right so I am going to tell you how to do it.” If he “gives in,” he feels powerless and defeated and often doesn’t stick to his commitments.

In fact, he is very likely sharing his perception of her boundary setting and safety-seeking with his counselor and fellow group members through a shame-based lens that then causes him to receive harmful feedback that he brings home to his wife. I’ve seen this happen more times than I can count.

In a 2012 interview with author Roman Krznaric, Brene Brown describes the relationship between connection and shame. “If you think about connection on a continuum, what I have learned is that anchoring this end of the continuum is empathy. It is what moves us toward deep, meaningful relationships. On the other side of the continuum connection is shame. It absolutely unravels our relationships and our connections with other people.”

Brown argues that shame cannot be felt by those without a capacity for empathy. This is very encouraging! She states, “Empathy is the antidote to shame.” She says the most powerful words one person can say to another are, “Me too.”

According to Brown, The answer is developing “shame resilience” and empathy that is the “real antidote to shame.” This means, “If we can share our story with someone who responds with empathy and understanding, shame can’t survive.”

The problem here occurs when the betrayed (victim) can not, and should not be expected to, respond with empathy and understanding toward the betrayer who perpetrated against them. In time this can and does occur for many couples, but the partner must first experience empathy from the addict as the injuring party. It can feel like a never ending and hopeless cycle…two deeply wounded people who don’t have the capacity to offer the other what they need.

There is hope.

In my next article, I will discuss other ways shame impacts the marriage, how an addict can find empathy from other healthy sources, and how none of this should prevent a betrayed partner from self-care and boundary-setting. I’ll also discuss how the partner can take care of herself as she works toward determining whether her husband is capable of offering her what she needs and whether her marriage is worth trying to save.

Overcoming shame is long-term work. A wife should not be expected to wait in the background while he does this work in the hopes that eventually he may be ready to be a patient, loving, trustworthy and honorable husband.

Please feel free to contact us at Comfort Christian Counseling or visit our website to learn about how we can help through counseling and three-day couple’s intensives.

 

  1. T

    I’m the wife but I’m the one full of toxic shame. Not for myself so much anymore but for my family. In my husband’s eyes I will never be good again. Not after what we’ve fallen apart over. I can’t blame him. He hates me with just cause. I’m just waiting for the divorce papers really…

  2. Saul

    I was shamed by my mother when I was a boy for my sexual desires and masturbation. She was a real bible thumper and laid the guilt on me. I felt so ashamed and alone; unacceptable in her eyes and God’s. When I got married, my wife found out I was using porn and shamed me by telling our children, my friends and acquaintances, and parents. That marriage ended in divorce because she had NO sexual desire and wouldn’t accept me for mine. When I was dating my current wife I told her before we got married I used porn and she said that wasn’t “a game changer.” We got married, and after her conversion, she is into shaming me for my habit. I have tried everything I know to kick this habit. I’ve read scripture, cried out to God for help, seen several psychologists, been to SAA and CR meetings, nothing seems to help. I’m tired of feeling guilty for something I can’t seem to control. I realize now that God isn’t there for me and I just need to accept me for who I am.

    • Moriah Bowman

      Hi Saul,

      I want to commend you for your honesty and desire to change. Overcoming addiction is never easy, and it is very difficult to recover on your own. I am glad to hear that you have been reaching out to others and reading our blog!

      Please keep praying and reading Scripture. Attending meetings and counseling can also still be an excellent tool for you. Do you have other forms of accountability? For example, having a close friend who can regularly pray with you and ask you if you have viewed porn? If you are using Covenant Eyes Screen Accountability, and ally can also help with this accountability.

      Ultimately, it is crucial that you do not give up. I will be praying that God will give you the perseverance to keep fighting this addiction. YOU are worth it!
      Blessings,
      Moriah

  3. Louie B

    I know guys who have sinned by using porn, and get hammered with rage, shame, and verbal abuse by their wives, not just at the revelation and shortly thereafter, but for many years. Two of the guys I know have confessed thinking of suicide because their wives have forced public confessions, verbally abuse them in front of the kids and their families, and completely ruin the marriage with their toxic responses. It seems to give some wives great joy to embarrass and shame their husbands, and find it impossible to let go of the control it gives them. And all the while having no shame over their addictions to shopping, gossip, slander, and their own lust and soft-porn exhibited by all the “Christian” romance novels you see on their bookshelves.

  4. M_Collins

    In this article I will use female pronouns for the betrayed spouse and male pronouns for the addict, because that is the focus of my work. Also, parts of this article focus on unique ways men react to shame. However, in no way do I mean to imply that sex addiction is not an issue that women can struggle with as well.

    Perhaps you can commit to writing a post that flips the sexes around to see how it might look from the other side. I have never seen such an attempt made on this blog. Is it possible that such a scenario is so unheard of that we lack the vocabulary to even deal with it? Wife as betrayer? Husband as betrayed? Is this so unfathomable that we risk creating cognitive dissonance around the entire idea?

    Or is it a situation where the assumption is that the husband is always the betrayer and the wife is always the betrayed. If you want a different assumption you need to read a different blog.

    Or perhaps women are just morally superior to men. I know secular society seems to think that. Perhaps in the Christian world we have come to believe that only half the world’s population are wretched sinners. I think that theology would explain so much about this blog.

    • Catherine Maraman

      Where can I find your follow up article?

  5. Maria Patino

    I am very interested in the next article. Could you send it to me?

    • Moriah Dufrin

      Hi Maria!

      If you visit the Covenant Eyes blog, you can actually sign up to have relevant posts delivered right to your email. I would encourage you to do this, so that you will be notified when Ella’s next article is published!

      Blessings,
      Moriah

    • Susan Wright

      Ella,
      This is where we are stuck. Thank you for explaining toxic shame! I have begged many times for my husband to see my pain in order to save our marriage but he just gets angry. He thinks we were both bad to one another!?! When I say, that upsets me to compare his pain to mine I feel I am back to the beginning of our problem. I will not in good conscience let him gloss over what has happened and he cannot bear to face it. I am going to separate because his personal responsibility and empathy for me, our family and the truth is still warped even though it is hidden in shame.

  6. Krystal M. Peterson

    Ella, this is an excellent article! Looking forward to the next in this series. Thank you for sharing.

    • Ellen Freberg

      Ella, since you recommended John Bradshaw’s book it has helped me understand how toxic shame can keep a person in bondage. I believe this is the core issue in our relationship. Thanks for sharing this article, it helped me with so much confusion I’ve had for a long time.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related in Rebuild Your Marriage

Editor's Picks

A woman praying with her Bible.

Rebuild Your Marriage

How To (Biblically) Lament Your Husband’s Pornography Use

After I found out that my husband had been viewing pornography, I…

3 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

Happy couple at the beach.

Rebuild Your Marriage

Rebuilding Trust in Marriage Through Boundaries

In situations where a marriage has been affected by pornography use, it’s…

5 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

Happy family of six.

Rebuild Your Marriage

From Secret Addiction to Full Transparency

After being married for eight years, I came home unexpectedly one afternoon…

4 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

Phil Robertson discussing The Blind with Covenant Eyes.

Rebuild Your Marriage

4 Reasons You Should Watch “The Blind”

The Covenant Eyes Podcast team recently made the trip DEEP into the…

4 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

A mother with her teenage daughters.

Rebuild Your Marriage

How Porn Shattered My Life: A Betrayed Partner’s Perspective

I was 36, married for 15 years, serving in our Church, attending…

5 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

A picture of Dave and Ashley Willis.

Rebuild Your Marriage

Porn Counterfeits Naked Marriage: With Dave and Ashley Willis

What is “naked marriage” all about? We sat down with popular podcasters…

3 minute read

Read Post

Related in Rebuild Your Marriage

A woman praying with her Bible.

Rebuild Your Marriage

How To (Biblically) Lament Your Husband’s Pornography Use

After I found out that my husband had been viewing pornography, I…

After I found out that my husband had been viewing pornography, I was devastated. As I processed my grief, one of my dearest friends posed this question to me: “What did you lose when your…

3 minute read

0 comments

Happy couple at the beach.

Rebuild Your Marriage

Rebuilding Trust in Marriage Through Boundaries

In situations where a marriage has been affected by pornography use, it’s…

In situations where a marriage has been affected by pornography use, it’s common for one person to feel responsible for the healing process, while the other doesn’t take enough responsibility. This dynamic can lead to…

5 minute read

0 comments

Happy family of six.

Rebuild Your Marriage

From Secret Addiction to Full Transparency

After being married for eight years, I came home unexpectedly one afternoon…

After being married for eight years, I came home unexpectedly one afternoon to find out that my husband had a pornography addiction. I was defeated, brokenhearted, and overwhelmed. I was a young, stay-at-home mom with…

4 minute read

0 comments

Phil Robertson discussing The Blind with Covenant Eyes.

Rebuild Your Marriage

4 Reasons You Should Watch “The Blind”

The Covenant Eyes Podcast team recently made the trip DEEP into the…

The Covenant Eyes Podcast team recently made the trip DEEP into the heart of Louisiana to meet with Phil and Kay Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame, and to talk about their new movie, The Blind.…

4 minute read

0 comments

A mother with her teenage daughters.

Rebuild Your Marriage

How Porn Shattered My Life: A Betrayed Partner’s Perspective

I was 36, married for 15 years, serving in our Church, attending…

I was 36, married for 15 years, serving in our Church, attending life group and sending our girls to a Christian school to help raise them in the ways of the Lord. I thought pornography…

5 minute read

4 comments

A picture of Dave and Ashley Willis.

Rebuild Your Marriage

Porn Counterfeits Naked Marriage: With Dave and Ashley Willis

What is “naked marriage” all about? We sat down with popular podcasters…

What is “naked marriage” all about? We sat down with popular podcasters Dave and Ashley Willis to find out, and we learned an important message about God’s design for sex and how porn counterfeits it.…

3 minute read

0 comments