During the next ten years, Seel grew further apart from his wife, tormented by feelings of inadequacy, shame, and confusion about his sexuality. By the time he and his wife separated in 1978, he was already under tranquilizers. He started to drink and considered becoming homeless, even sleeping rough three times to test himself. After one of his sons threatened to never see him again if he did not stop drinking, he joined a counselling group. In 1979, when he was working for an insurance company, still trying for reconciliation with his estranged wife, he attended a discussion in a local bookshop for the launch of the French edition of Heinz Heger's "The Men with the Pink Triangle", a memoir of the concentration camp experiences of Josef Kohout. After the event Seel met with the speakers, and a meeting was organized for the next day. Heger's book inspired Seel's coming out as a gay man and as a victim of the Nazis. He joined his local branch of "David et Jonathan", a gay and lesbian Christian association.