Close communication with another person of the opposite sex, emotional affair… Like clothes getting wet in a light rain, you end up losing respect for the other person and leading to catastrophe.
Extraordinarily attentive behavior, constant contact… If you look at it one by one, it may seem like there is no problem. However, over time, these indifferent actions gradually lead to feelings for others and eventually affect current relationships. Emotional cheating is the act of seeking emotional connection outside of a relationship, especially when one feels that one’s emotional needs are not being met.
Dr. Civonna Childs, a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic in the United States, explained what emotional cheating is, where the line is between friendship and emotional cheating, and how to reflect on a relationship when emotional cheating occurs:
A deep emotional connection with another person…emotional wind.
Emotional affair refers to a deep ‘emotional connection’ with someone other than your partner. This can be seen as a form of wind. Over time, a stronger emotional bond with another person can cause rifts in your current relationship. This is because a strong emotional connection with another person can interfere with your emotional connection with your partner. Emotional cheating can last for weeks or months, and in some cases, can last for years.
There is an old saying, ‘You cannot serve two masters.’ This means that if you love one person, you will despise the other. Usually, the reason people cheat is because there is a lack of communication in the relationship, their emotional needs are not being met, or the relationship is too routine and they need an escape and new stimulation. That new stimulus appears in the form of this ‘new relationship’. But what we don’t realize is that all of this is just an illusion.
It can also be the cause of a breakup…a case of emotional cheating
Emotional cheating is considered cheating because it can break trust and emotional connection just as much as physical or sexual cheating. Emotional cheating can lead to other types of cheating, and if you feel that the boundaries in your relationship have been broken, it can be just as much a cause of a breakup as physical cheating.
However, texting another person, having a deep conversation, or making an emotional connection doesn’t always qualify as an ’emotional affair.’ If your lover expresses the opinion that he dislikes emotional interactions with other people of the opposite sex and continues to enjoy those interactions even though you have not given permission, you should suspect emotional infidelity.
In healthy relationships, it’s normal to freely share your emotional connections, philosophies, important life events, and daily complaints and desires with friends, colleagues, and family. What matters is whether the conversation or relationship is helping or harming your current relationship.
If you are focusing on other emotional connections rather than building an emotional bond with your current partner, and if you are losing intimacy, sexual or emotional connection with your partner, then emotional cheating is likely.
Dr. Childs emphasized, “The partner of an emotional affair is not someone you are with in real life. Your current partner is with you every day and lives a real life, but the partner of an affair only exists in temporary moments, so it is easy to fall for it.” .
Source: kormedi.com
