Reasons why emotional cheating is just as bad as having a physical affair

Whether you are in a marriage or in a relationship with your partner, the lines between a close friendship and an emotional affair can get blurry. This is mainly because a partner cannot accuse the spouse of physically cheating on them when it has been an emotional transgression. Nevertheless, one cannot deny that an emotional affair is innocuous since it isn’t the same as traditional cheating. So, we spell out three reasons why emotional cheating is just as bad as having a physical affair.

What qualifies as emotional cheating?

For the uninitiated, an emotional affair is when your lover has been unfaithful by divulging personal feelings with another and enjoying emotional intimacy with them. They may not have had a passional physical connection, but it still counts as infidelity. So, if your beau has cross the lines of a normal platonic friendship and broken your trust to have a deeper connection with the new person, then it qualifies as an emotional affair.

They usually last longer than physical affairs

Cheaters may try to say that sleeping with someone other than their partner was a momentary lapse in judgement. However, emotional cheating cannot use this excuse as it builds up over time. It would take days if not weeks or months for a person to confide in their friend or co-worker to the extent that they have a deep emotional connection with them that threatens the foundation of their relationship with their spouse. So, the effects last longer as well as it takes them a long time to earn back their partner’s trust and regain emotional closeness with them.

A great deal of personal information and feelings are shared

In a physical affair, their feelings and emotions may not be entangled, which means your spouse may still love you. However, emotional cheating with someone is far more intimate. The conversations are heartfelt and complex, which also means information about you or your kids may have been shared with their lover. This can be hurtful to you as a spouse. Moreover, the emotional investment made tends to open the doorway to lust which can make an emotional affair a physical one in future.

There’s no taking away from how bad a physical affair is. But the repercussions from an emotional affair can be just as damaging!

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