Emotional Cheating is a form of infidelity whereby a married man or woman develops a relationship with another person in the opposite sex. This type of relationship in not sexual but it is very likely that it will turn into one over time. Although the debate whether it constitutes infidelity or not is not yet over, what is definite is that emotional affairs can seriously damage relationships.
Marriage counselors and psychologists say that men and women are almost equally susceptible to emotional cheating. Statistics have shown that both have committed an emotional affair at one point in their life. But men who are between 40 to 50 years old and employed are the most common offenders. They develop this type of relationship with their co-workers or their past lovers.
This type of infidelity usually occurs in the workplace because this is where most men and women spend their time during the day. It usually starts as a simple friendship until emotional attractions start to develop. It is also common to observe this over the Internet. The increasing number of social sites such as Facebook and MySpace has contributed to the outbreak of emotional cheating incidents. Online chats and forums are also the other places where emotional affairs occur.
The reason why emotional affairs happen is that a person's emotional needs and wants are not satisfied by the spouse. It is not about physical attraction or sexual desires. There might be something lacking in the marriage that the husband or the wife finds it on another person.
Emotional cheating is considered to be inappropriate even if it does not involve sex because of trust issues. There are a lot of secrecy, deception, and dishonesty going on. The cheating spouse becomes emotionally unfaithful.
The best way to end an emotional affair is to tell your spouse about it. Reveal everything that he/she needs to know. It is also much easier to end an emotional affair if you get help from your spouse. Counseling is also a good option but it can be expensive. There are also a lot of online courses that deal with this problem and you can easily avail it.
