The Betrayal Bind (Second Edition)

How to Heal When the Person You Love the Most Hurts You the Worst

When cheating, infidelity, or sexual betrayal shatters your world–the person you love becomes the source of your deepest pain–and everything changes.

Betrayal trauma spins your world out of control. In a split second, your sense of safety is shattered, your trust is gone, and everything you thought you could count on is in question. One moment, you believe you know your partner, your relationship, your reality. The next, everything feels upside down.

The Betrayal Bind, now fully updated and expanded in its second edition, is the essential attachment-based guide to healing after infidelity and sexual betrayal.

Whether you are facing an emotional affair, physical affair, compulsive sexual behavior, pornography addiction, or chronic cheating, this book explains exactly what happens inside you after betrayal, the hidden patterns that keep you trapped, and the pathway to breaking free.

You’ll learn:

• What happens inside your attachment system and nervous system when betrayal hits
• Why infidelity triggers such intense fear, hypervigilance, and self-doubt
• How to begin trauma recovery after cheating and quickly address your pain
• How to reclaim self-trust, emotional safety and your personal power
• What true healing looks like whether you stay in the relationship or decide to leave

Blending the latest research on betrayal trauma, attachment injury repair, and relational trauma with the lived experience of thousands of betrayed partners, The Betrayal Bind offers a compassionate, clear and deeply validating roadmap for understanding your pain and finding your way back to safety, connection and hope.

This audiobook is expertly read by the author, with audio engineering by Transient Audio. It was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Michelle Mays (P)2026 Echo Point Books & Media, LLC

This book puts words to everything I have experienced but couldn’t explain

I have read several books on betrayal trauma and healing and this one is by far the best. She put words to the experiences, thoughts, feelings and fears I have had, but didn’t know how to explain, and many that I felt ashamed of. She validated my experience and named it for what it is- trauma that changed my brain. But she didn’t leave me stuck there as a victim, she gave me real practical ways to work towards healing and charging. This book is fantastic for whether you stay with your partner and work towards forgiveness and reconciliation or whether you leave the relationship. I recommend this book to every person who has experienced betrayal, and to those who did the betraying and want to develop empathy and understanding for what their partner is experiencing.

Fantastic

I have read and listens to countless numbers of books on betrayal and infidelity, and this was by far the best, the most helpful, the most insightful and most well put together! Thank you so very much for sharing this book with someone in need will gain so much from your book

This book made me feel seen

The Betrayal Bind is one of the most validating books I’ve come across on betrayal trauma. Michelle Mays explains the confusing push-and-pull many betrayed partners feel in a way that finally puts words to emotions that are hard to describe. It helped me understand that many of my reactions after betrayal were actually normal trauma responses, and that understanding alone was incredibly validating. I also was able to discover that a few of my responses are self destructive and although understandable are something I need to work on with my therapist. Highly recommend for anyone trying to make sense of the aftermath of betrayal.

powerfully truthful and heart ooening

I am the betrayer and it tore open my heart, mind and soul with the truth of my devastating actions! Not to shame but to heal and hope for restitution... To shine a powerful spot light on what my wife has gone through, felt and continues to navigate. This book has offered no guarantees in my journey, but it has provided much healing knowledge for how I can face my addictions and change me! Thank you!