Not all infidelity involves sexual intimacy. An emotional affair can occur when a person spends a substantial amount of time and energy with someone outside their relationship or receives emotional support and companionship from a new friend. Read on to learn the warning signs and dangers of an emotional affair.
What Is An Emotional Affair?
An emotional affair is an intimate emotional connection with a person other than your partner. During an emotional affair, one or both parties receive emotional support and companionship from the new relationship. While an emotional affair excludes a sexual relationship, it is common for both parties to experience some degree of sexual tension. Most people involved in an emotional affair feel little guilt and deny the seriousness of the affair because no sex is involved.
How Does an Emotional Affair Differ From a Friendship?
An emotional affair almost always involves some degree of sexual attraction, which may or may not be acknowledged. When a person is involved in an emotional affair, they are dishonest with their partner about the extent of the friendship and their feelings towards their friend. It is also common to keep some aspects of the relationship a secret from his or her partner.
What Are the Warning Signs of an Emotional Affair?
A person who is involved in an emotional affair may find they are withdrawing from their spouse or no longer interested in being intimate with him or her. They may also become preoccupied or daydream about their friend, anticipating when they can see them again. Some people involved in an emotional affair find they prefer to share thoughts, feelings and problems with their friend instead of their spouse.
What Are the Causes of an Emotional Affair?
Most emotional affairs begin innocently as a friendship. In time, two people begin to form a strong emotional bond. Like a sexual affair, the number one reason a friendship evolves into an emotional affair is if one or both people feel neglected or unappreciated in their marriage or relationship.
What Are the Dangers of An Emotional Affair?
Although many people believe an emotional affair is harmless, most therapists view it as cheating without having a sexual relationship. Studies have shown that approximately 50 percent of emotional affairs eventually evolve into full blown sexual infidelity. For some couples, the consequences of an emotional affair can be a sense of being deceived, betrayed or lied to.
For more information on infidelity read Rebuilding a Relationship After an Affair and How To Cope After Learning Your Partner Has Been Unfaithful.
Sources;
- Ronald T. Potter-Efron, The Emotional Affair: How to Recognize Emotional Infidelity and What To Do About It, New Harbinger Publications, January 2009.
- Birenne Murk, Eyes Wide Open: Avoiding the Heartbreak of Emotional Promiscuity, Regal, July 2008.
- Shirley P. Glass, Not "Just Friends": Rebuilding Trust and Recovering Your Sanity After Infidelity, Free Press, February 2004.
- M. Gary Neuman, Emotional Infidelity: How to Affair-Proof Your Marriage, Three Rivers Press, September 2002.
Danielle McGinnis - Danielle McGinnis is the mother of a college freshman and full-time freelance writer.
