Navigated to You Are Not Broken: Healing Betrayal Trauma and Attachment Wounds After Infidelity - with Dr. Laney Knowlton

You Are Not Broken: Healing Betrayal Trauma and Attachment Wounds After Infidelity - with Dr. Laney Knowlton

Dec 30, 2025
44 mins

Episode Description

Betrayal doesn’t just hurt—it changes how you attach, trust, and feel safe.

Dr. Laney Knowlton (LMFT-S, CSAT-S, CPTT-S, CCPS, CST, CCRDS-S, RAE) joins Amie and Alana and explains how betrayal trauma impacts attachment styles, why disorganized attachment is so common after infidelity, and how healing can happen even if your relationship doesn’t survive.

If you’ve ever wondered “Am I broken forever?”—this episode is for you.

Together, we unpack:

  • Why betrayal often creates disorganized attachment

  • How attachment styles shift after trauma

  • The difference between innocent trust and earned trust

  • Why healing is possible—even if your partner never changes

  • How recovery can lead to deeper connection, confidence, and joy

Connect with Dr. Knowlton by visiting her website, checking out her worksheets, or reading her book, Healing From Betrayal, Infidelity, and Problematic Sexual Behaviors

Chapters

  • 00:54 Introducing Dr. Laney Knowlton

  • 04:07 Understanding Attachment Styles

  • 09:59 Impact of Betrayal on Attachment

  • 14:06 Navigating Betrayal and Recovery

  • 17:06 Challenges in Seeking Support

  • 22:15 Understanding Normal Responses to Trauma

  • 24:46 Stages of Recovery

  • 25:08 The Role of Healthy Sexuality

  • 37:58 The Path to Self-Connection and Joy

Register Now!

  • Rise, Renew, Restore Somatic Healing Retreat in Costa Rica -  Ready to experience deep somatic healing? Join us this July for a transformative 5-day intensive created specifically for women healing from betrayal trauma or navigating divorce. This is your opportunity to reconnect with your body's wisdom, release what you've been carrying, and heal alongside other women who truly understand your journey. 

Questions or topics you'd like us to address? Send us an email with “Choose To Be” as the subject to podcast@chooserecoveryservices.com

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More from Choose Recovery Services

  • Beyond the Facade Podcast - Podcast geared toward helping men live authentically and in harmony with their values.

  • Choose Healing - Weekly support group for women who have recently experienced betrayal and are needing help coping with the symptoms of trauma. 

  • Intensives - Accelerate your healing journey with one of our intensives. Foster connection with others who share similar experiences, creating an immersive environment that enables profound transformation in a short period of time.

  • Help. Her. Heal - This program is for men seeking to learn more about empathy, conflict resolution, and healthy communication. 

  • Beyond the Facade: Men’s Healing Group - We help men move through the pains of addiction, relationship healing, managing emotions, and moving past shame. You’ll learn how to better connect with others, understand your own emotional experience, and build a deeper sense of self respect.

  • ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Empowered Divorce Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ with Amie Woolsey for those who are leaning toward divorce.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

  • Dating From Within - Amie Woolsey hosts this workshop which teaches you how to date yourself first. Learn how to know if you are ready to date again and what a healthy relationship looks like. 

  • Should I Stay or Go? - Self-paced course designed to be a companion on your journey toward self-discovery and personal empowerment. 

  • Trauma Trigger Kit - Triggers can come out of nowhere. Keep a Trauma Trigger Kit on hand to help you use your five senses to stay grounded and connected to yourself.

  • Believing in You - In this program Amie teaches you how to work WITH your brain instead of against it. Learn tools that will help you move forward to trust, love, and finding joy once again.

  • Intimacy Within ⁠- Creating healthy intimacy with your partner begins with creating healthy intimacy within. Amie’s self-paced course and guidebook will walk you through the seven levels of intimacy. Learn how to embrace authenticity and vulnerability even in the face of potential rejection.

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