The Marriage Counseling Blog

Affairs are a very common problem brought to light in couples counseling. They are also one of the most damaging of the emotional battles that couples fight, leading to long-term trust issues, insecurity and resentment. While the traditional focus on infidelity has seen a face lift with the introduction of online affairs in the past decade, the truth is that there are varying types of infidelity and affairs that affect couples. The following are the two most often brought to couples counseling for help:

Infidelity Types

• Physical Infidelity
• Emotional Infidelity

Unlike Physical infidelity, emotional infidelity is common dismissed by the offending partner as “not real cheating.” Emotional affairs are damaging, however, and often lead to a physical affair eventually. Emotional affairs happen when one spouse has developed and nurtures a close friendship with another person whom they feel attracted to, but by keeping the relationship non-physical, still feels as though it is within their bounds to pursue.

Here are some of the markers and warning signs of an emotional affair:

• Distancing: Your spouse is withdrawing, both emotionally and physically, from your relationship
• Revolving Thoughts: Your spouse is continually bringing up their friend’s name and refers back to them in consistent ways. This is a marker that their friend is never far from their thoughts, and is indeed preoccupying their thoughts on an increasing basis.
• Time: Your spouse is spending increasing amounts of time with their friend, but less and less with you.
• Support: Your spouse is increasingly turning to their friend for emotional support instead of you.

If you see signs of emotional infidelity in your marriage, seek out couples counseling immediately.

Related Posts

• Emotional Infidelity and Online Relationships
• Counseling Help for Infidelity
• Can a Marriage Survive Infidelity?
• Warning Signs Of An Emotional Affair
• Does an Emotional Affair Cause Any Harm?