Healing After an Affair or Addiction: Helping a Couple Move From Transaction to Transformation It's quite easy for couples to address life, marriage, and even recovery after infidelity or addiction with a transactional approach - "let's just fix this and move on.” Yet, this transactional approach to repair work never leads to a transformative experience, typically resulting in a 'go along to get along' mentality. When couples hit this point, restoration is extremely difficult, and true healing remains elusive. A rewarding repair work process must transcend the transactional "you do this, I do this, and we make this work, void of joy and excitement.” When we remain stuck in a transactional approach to recovery, we typically experience a range of frustrating, debilitating emotions, keeping us in basic survival mode, real satisfaction out of reach. However, when we can identify where we are taking a transactional approach to change, we can then make the proper adjustments, paving the way for us to reach the ultimate goal of repair work: true and lasting transformation.