Have you ever thought, “Every woman cheats,” “I cannot trust women,” or “If I get into another relationship, I will definitely be betrayed again”? If these thoughts repeatedly appear after a painful relationship experience, they may be connected to a cognitive distortion called overgeneralisation.
One or two people may have betrayed you, but that does not mean every woman will behave in the same way. Similarly, one, ten, or even a hundred negative experiences involving men cannot prove that all men will behave similarly. Every person is different.
What Is Overgeneralisation?
Overgeneralisation happens when the mind takes one or a few experiences and creates a broad rule about people, relationships, or life.
For example:
“My previous partner cheated, so every woman will cheat.”
The original experience may be real and painful. The problem begins when the mind applies that experience to an entire group of people.
Research-informed cognitive approaches recognise that overgeneralised beliefs can become filters through which people interpret later experiences.
How Does It Affect Romantic Relationships?
A person who carries this belief may enter a new relationship with anxiety already present.
A small change in the partner’s behaviour—delayed replies, talking to someone else, being less affectionate, or spending time with friends—may immediately trigger suspicion.
The relationship can then develop a cycle:
Suspicion → questioning → arguments → emotional distance → more suspicion
This does not necessarily mean the partner is doing something wrong. The person’s existing belief may influence how they interpret ambiguous situations.
That is one reason “Why Do You Feel Like Every Woman Cheats” can be an important question to explore rather than simply accepting the thought as fact.
1. Past Trauma and Painful Experiences
A deeply distressing relationship experience can influence later beliefs about trust, safety, and intimacy. Certain memories, statements, or interpretations from that period may continue to influence present thinking.
Trauma-focused cognitive therapies specifically work with unhelpful beliefs that can develop following traumatic experiences.
2. Parental Conditioning and Social Learning
Beliefs can also develop through repeated messages heard during childhood.
Statements such as “Never trust neighbours,” “If you become too happy, something bad will happen,” or negative generalisations about particular groups may become familiar ways of interpreting the world.
Not every belief learned from family or culture is necessarily wrong. The important question is whether the belief is still accurate and useful in the person’s present life.
3. Repeated Negative Experiences
Several disappointments can make a person more likely to expect another negative outcome.
For example, after failing several interviews, someone may begin thinking, “Nobody wants me,” or “I am not capable of doing anything.”
The same pattern can occur in relationships: repeated painful experiences may strengthen the expectation of betrayal.
4. Confirmation Bias
Once a person strongly believes “Every woman cheats,” they may pay greater attention to incidents that appear to support the belief while overlooking experiences that contradict it.
This is related to confirmation bias. Cognitive therapy often helps people identify automatic thoughts, examine the evidence, and develop more balanced interpretations.
Can Overgeneralisation Be Changed?
Yes. Overgeneralisation is a thinking pattern, not proof that your belief is true.
Instead of asking, “How can I prove that every woman cheats?”, ask:
“What evidence supports this belief?”
“What evidence does not support it?”
“Am I judging this person based on someone from my past?”
“What makes this person different from my previous partner?”
The goal is not to trust everyone blindly. It is to evaluate each person based on their own behaviour.
For people asking “Why Do You Feel Like Every Woman Cheats,” exploring the experiences and beliefs behind the thought can be more useful than simply trying to suppress it.
Cognitive and trauma-focused therapies can help people identify and modify unhelpful beliefs. Hypnotherapy may also be considered as an adjunctive approach in appropriate clinical contexts, but claims that it can universally remove deeply rooted subconscious beliefs should be made cautiously.
The aim is simple: one person’s behaviour should not become a permanent rule about an entire gender.