A committed romantic relationship between husband and wife or long-term boyfriend and girlfriend is a sacred thing. When these relationships are first formed, there exists an unspoken understanding between the two of them that they can trust each other with their hearts.

For the healthiest of marriages and other relationships of the heart, that unspoken understanding exists to this day. Both members of the couple know that they are to protect the dignity and feelings of each other through thick and thin.

However, there are people out there who could tempt either member of the couple to change all that. These people are sometimes called emotional affair predators. While they are not necessarily “bad” people, these predators are more likely than most to lure someone who is in a committed relationship into having an inappropriate relationship.

If you are concerned about emotional affair predators, here are 5 tips for keeping your relationship safe:

1. Understand that emotional affair predators are not always fully aware of what they are doing:

Much like a predator in the wild, an emotional affair predator is someone who singles out an unsuspecting person in their social group, workplace or group of friends for the purposes of forming a romantic attachment. The person they usually select is someone who married and involved in a marriage or serious, committed relationship.

These predators can be men or women. They can be attractive or less-than-attractive physically. They can be of any race, age, or background. And, often, they are not fully aware of their own true intentions. They just know that they get a rush from engaging in this type of behavior. And, they give little or no regard to the effect their behaviors may be having on the spouse/partner of the person they are attaching themselves to – or to their kids, if they have any.

2. This unique breed of predator has the need to exercise power over others in order to make themselves feel more valuable:

The rush the predator feels comes from their knowledge that they have power over another person. The predator is causing someone else to feel feelings for them, which makes them feel good. It makes them feel valuable and powerful, and the intensity of feeling is stronger given that they know it is wrong.

Often, however, the predator will choose not to take the relationship to the level of an actual, physical affair. Reason: they may not be interested in sex at all, or, they realize that turning things physical could hasten its end. Then, their fun would be over too soon!

3. Many predators have no attention of breaking up the relationship – they just glom on like energy vampires:

This type of individual could be called an energy vampire. It is almost as if they get suck some of the life energy from the other person, as they are involved in an inappropriate relationship with them. This is not a healthy state of affairs for anyone involved.

4. The first step in making these predators go away requires getting yourself, your spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend to recognize the emotional affair:

If you suspect that you or your committed romantic partner may be the victim of an emotional affair, the first step to getting past it will be to recognize that it is going on. If you feel that either of you is spending too much time with an outside person in a way that is hurting your existing, committed relationship, an emotional affair may be going on.

5. Next, you need to take the necessary steps to get them to stop the affair:

You need to do what it takes to end the affair yourself – or to convince your partner to do the same. Apart from admitting its existence, this step is probably the hardest one to take. But, only when the affair has ended can the two of you move toward recovery in your relationship.

Try these 5 tips for keeping your relationship safe from emotional affair predators.

Author Bio: Find the 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: All About Emotional Affairs.