Withdrawal from the OW is all-consuming for them for about 3 weeks, though it takes probably another 12 months to get her mostly out of his system. The reflective period in which H finally works on his issues (now that he's no longer "using" OW and other temporary feel-goods) is what takes 2 years, and it is a necessary part of his growth.
It coincides with an approximately 2-year period in which the LBS comes to terms with all the lies, hurt, betrayal, etc, and learns to trust her spouse again. This must also be the period during which both spouses work together to repair all the shortcomings in their marriage that allowed the affair to happen in the first place.
