Emotional Affairs in Midlife What is emotional infidelity and how you can stop it.

BY: CHERIE BURBACH

SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES

You can recover from emotional cheating, but you need to take steps to change your behavior.

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Has your marriage been affected by an emotional affair? Emotional affairs have become a more common issue in midlife marriage, especially as couples redefine what infidelity is in their relationship.

Definition of an Emotional Affair in Midlife

Emotional affairs, also called emotional infidelity or cheating, occur when one spouse has a deep attachment to someone else. Physical intimacy does not need to be present in order for an emotional affair to happen, but often this type of cheating does lead to a physical affair.

One More & I'll Go Insane!

The Snake Pit (1948)

That title should read "one more mention of high-drive husbands and I'll go insane!" A wife recently commented to me about her frustration that, while it's great that churches and ministries now discuss sexuality, it is painful at times for wives who don't experience the norm.

The most common scenario described here, and on other blogs, is that of the eager beaver hubby and the sexual sloth wife. To be fair, that is the typical make-up of many marriages: A husband with a higher sex drive than his wife. However, it hardly represents the whole of marriages.

Sex Is a Reflection of Oneness

Difficulties in a couple’s sex life often reflect deeper issues in their relationship.

by Dave Boehi

“I wish we would enjoy each other in bed more often, but my spouse rarely wants to make love. We have almost no sex life.”

When you just read that quote, did you assume that it was made by a man, or a woman? Conventional wisdom holds that husbands generally desire to have sex in their marriage more often than wives. But it appears that a growing number of marriages are experiencing the opposite problem, with wives frustrated that their husbands are uninterested in sexual relations.