Guilt is not complete repentance; it admits distress at the fault that was caught.
Guilt causes distress so in that distress you moved to repent admitting your fault to another. Exposure heals. It does not condemn. Yet many feel shame at exposure of sin, but admittance leads to healing the root of the sin.
Many struggle with repentance. It is odd. People who are obviously in pain and struggle with emotions, guilt, conscience, and shame try to bury and repress their desire to be healed, rather than expose it to someone who has the power to heal, Jesus.
Many live in this fantasy thinking that if they repress and bury their guilt, along with the problems and pains, they will go away. Repression occurs in relationships, especially with God.
Denial of problems allows them to grow and fester, only to realize later that if you had dealt with them immediately, it would have been easier to heal. Similarly when you deal with the guilt and shame of sin sooner than later, the easier it is to heal and be restored.
St. Paul tells us not to let the sun go down on our anger. In other words, deal immediately with what is wrong rather than wait until it has taken root and grows worse, as in the case of adultery.
Many causes leads a person to commit adultery, a very shameful deed indeed. It is not simply a faux pas. Many decisions were made to lead to this indiscretion, especially knowing the dire consequences. Unless you deal immediately with the steps leading to adultery, it only intensifies.
Pharisees exposed the adulterous woman. They used her for their own designs, the arrest of Jesus. Both were exposed, how many were healed?
To heal, Jesus invites us into relationship yet, this relationship demands more than a just a conversation, but rather a conversion. This relationship is akin to a father talking to his child concerning grave sin. The father warns of the consequences but also invites the child to dramatically change. The first step of change is to see our own sinfulness and our need for divine intervention.
The exposure of our guilt is the first step. Next find the root of the sin rather than the symptom: adultery. Then rebuild a relationship with the Father through the Son dealing specifically with the struggles and setbacks that come with rebuilding our lives. Jesus heals and embraces us only in complete honesty with self. Jesus comes at those exact moments to heal. But also we have to let Him.
Instead of degrading oneself unto complete humiliation, deal immediately with guilt, which is to repent of sin, heal the hurt, correct the fault, find the cause, so as to follow Jesus with all your heart.