How do people view cheating vs infidelity? Do people see cheating as something that’s different from infidelity? If they do, how are they different from one another?
The thousand of couples who have undergone counseling and therapy sessions with Dr. Huizenga for the past twenty plus years of his practice have shown a difference in how they perceive cheating vs infidelity.
A lot of people view someone who is cheating as a person who does not say no to extramarital affairs, as someone who does not want to say no to it. And this – I don’t want to say no – is actually one out of the seven different kinds of extramarital affairs in the e-book Break Free from the Affair by Dr. Huizenga. The other six types are more closely related to how infidelity is perceived.
As for someone involved in infidelity, people view him or her as someone who is having a hard time dealing with his or her actions. This person is filled with guilt and shame from his or her extramarital affairs, and is confused by why he or she is doing it in the first place.
Another difference that people see with cheating vs infidelity is that cheating usually means several extramarital affairs with many other persons which most likely involved sexual encounters. And infidelity, in contrast, usually just involves one person who your partner has some type of feelings for, and may only entail emotional feelings and connections without sexual encounters, but, of course, it is still possible for it to occur.
So to explain simply, most people see cheaters as people who go around having affairs with whoever would want to be with them without caring that they are being unfaithful to their spouses. And people involved in infidelity are those who are aware that their actions can hurt their spouses and feel very badly about doing so. This is the common difference people see in cheating vs infidelity.
But how will you know which one your partner is if you think that he or she is having an affair? How do you differentiate cheating from infidelity? Are there specific signs that only happen with cheating? Or with infidelity? What are they? And are they going to be easy to spot?
Our next blog post will discuss more on cheating vs infidelity and their signs are, so don’t miss it!
