Believe it and save your spouse.

What to Do About an Emotional Affair

If your reality check does uncover that your spouse has crossed the border of being "just friends" with someone of the opposite sex, then you need to talk about it. If you allow it to continue, then your resentment over this emotional cheating will build until it becomes almost impossible to save your marriage.

Before you confront your spouse, it's important to understand that the tact that you want to take is that the emotional affair takes away from the sense of intimacy in your marriage. Your partner is the person that you are supposed to share your thoughts and dreams with and by sharing them with someone outside the marriage, he or she is taking away from some of the most beautiful moments that you can enjoy together.

After all, marriage is about emotional connection as well as physical intimacy. And of course, an emotional affair can eventually lead to sex.

This is a sticky area though and most couples are unsure of what constitutes emotional cheating. The question is where do you draw the line? The two paragraphs above offer some important guidelines.

Understand that when you first bring up the subject, your spouse is likely to be defensive and claim that the other person is just a friend. This is when you need to calmly explain that you feel that the relationship is diluting your emotional connection and that you want to work with your spouse to help him or her meet those needs inside your marriage.

Learning how to rebuild the trust in your marriage after an emotional affair is essential and may require outside help. While many couples go into therapy or get help from a relationship coach, one of the other resources I recommend for those who don't have the money or time for a long term therapeutic process is Saving Your Marriage Today which teaches you how to rebuild communication and trust in your marriage, so the connection, intimacy and trust which rightfully belongs within your marriage is yours to enjoy.