An emotional affair can be defined simply as the act of cheating on your spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend – but minus actually having a physical relationship in the process.

These affairs are on the rise, due in part to the ease with which people can carry on affairs through electronic communications such as text messaging, hidden e-mail accounts, social media sites, and online adult chat rooms.

While the fact that these affairs lack a physical love component makes them seem less threatening than a traditional affair, in many ways they can be more threatening to a relationship. The reason for this is that, with many physical affairs, the emotions involved are often limited; many physical affairs are about getting sex or attention, rather than forming an emotional attachment.

What women – and many men – fear most about their partner having an emotional affair is the possibility of losing their partner’s heart to the outsider. It is the fear of the loss of love that drives so much pain into the heart of the person who was cheated on.

If you or your partner is having an emotional affair, here is how to find an emotional affair solution in 5 steps:

1. The person in the relationship who is having the affair needs to admit that there is an affair going on:

It is important to have the person involved in the affair (whether it is you or your partner) to first admit the truth that it is actually going on. Getting this out in the open is the first step toward making things right again.

Of course, if you are the one cheating and you have not told your partner yet, it may be wisest to just end the affair without telling your partner. However, this is risky because it does not address the underlying problem as to the reasons for the affair in the first place. You are likely to fall back into the pattern again right away, either with the same person or with someone else.

2. The cheating party needs to reaffirm their love for the injured party:

Being cheated on in an emotional affair is a real infidelity – as real as any traditional affair that involves a physical side. That is why it is valid and safe to call the person who was cheated on “the injured party.” It can have that serious of an effect on them.

It is very important at this stage, in the interest of saving the relationship, for the cheating party to reaffirm their love for the injured. Both people need to know that they can and will get through this.

3. Let them know that you can overcome this together, but only if they agree to end the affair and work on your relationship together:

The person who has been having the affair need to affirm to the other person that they can overcome this together. The two of you can, with the right guidance, find a way through this to greener pastures.

4. Do not try to force each other to move too fast:

Both of you will have your motivations for getting through this quickly. The injured is going to want to force the cheating person to tell every detail about what happened. The cheating person is going to want to force forgiveness on injured. But, do yourselves a favor and back off on your demands a bit. Let the healing process unfold on its own.

5. Get a firm commitment from each other that you are going to make your relationship Priority One again:

To really heal your relationship, both of you are going to have to commit to becoming one again as a couple. Only by making this Priority One can you hope to heal things properly between you.

Follow these 5 steps to surviving your emotional affair and getting on with your lives.

Author Bio: Find tools and techniques needed to overcome an emotional affair that were designed by an expert who has helped over 10,000 couples do the same at: Find the Love Again.

Category: Relationships
Keywords: emotional affair solution, get over an emotional affair, survive an emotional affair, husband, wife