Hi IU, It's good to see you here. And I want you to know I hope the best for you and your family. I hate to see families torn to shreds by infidelity, and it's a long road to recovery, but don't give up...okay...it can get better if you want it too. Progress may be slow, but worthit!
My H has mental illness too, and he fell into the hole of infidelity and binging for 2 days. After the 2 days, he ended up in the hospital extremely scared and depressed wanting to run in front of a car. He dragged himself out of the hole literally crawling to a phone and called 911, then they called me to let me know they had found him.
It has not been easy, and I had a million questions when he came home, and he answered them all, which led to a start in recovery. There is never a sane logical reason why infidelity happens. Any BS and recovered WS can attest to that. But...as we evaluate our marriage pre-DDay, it wasn't a good marriage.
He didn't protect his weakness, and I was withholding SF.
We had barely any communication, job problems, and he withdrew quite fast, and fell hard. He is repentant, and very remorseful, so that has helped tremendously. He is not making excuses, and takes full responsibility for his actions.
He cried more than I sometimes. He can't believe he did it, but he did.
The way you can help your H right now is by being totally honest with him about everything. NC (no contact) with OM ever again. I would advise that you to write an NC letter to OM, even if he isn't around any longer. An NC letter will help your H more than yourself.
Give him lots of hugs, lots of listening, lots of patience.
I think you have more understanding than you give yourself credit for. You understand he is hurting. You understand what caused the pain. Forgive one another, and pray alot.
If you can look at it as a new start for your marriage you can begin to rebuild if you choose too.
I know you are scared and you mention that hole is right there. But now you know you can go around that hole you don't have to fall into again.
I said this in an earlier post....Here we are...so many years later.... learning how to be married. It's worthit.
Hoping for the best,
Lady