[JS17]

This morning NBC did a piece on emotional cheating but I had to leave for work before it came on. Did anyone catch it and care to give a synopsis?

[pearlsasinger]

I was getting ready for work at the same time but here's what I got from it:

As the show described, emotional cheating is when your SO develops an intense friendship or emotional relationship with another man or woman. They will discuss everything going on in their lives, often including marital problems or dissatisfaction. How to distinguish between just a good friendship and actual emotional cheating? One of the key factors as to why it’s cheating is the level of secrecy. Your spouse or SO does not know the extent of your emotional relationship with this person. As the bond grows with the secret friend, the distance between your SO and you becomes greater even if you do not see it.

They said often it is more hurtful than physical cheating because it is betraying your love with your SO. You know it’s more than just physical. The show said it's easier to become attached to another person emotionally than just through physical sexual contact. In emotional cheating, there is obviously some level of physical attraction or it will develop more as the bond progresses and about 50 percent of these instances are thought to turn into physical cheating.

Having never been cheated on, I can't really fathom either circumstance. Both are a betrayal but I guess the difference is....

Being physically cheated on, my guess is I would feel undesirable, unattractive, inadequate in the bedroom and my self esteem would hit rock bottom.

Being emotionally cheated on though...An emotional connection is so much more rare than a physical one. And it shows an obvious lack of emotional connection/communication or shows a growing distance in your own relationship. I would really fear for whether the relationship could be saved.