Must a Cheating Heart Unravel Your Marriage?"
by Stephen Peters
New lovers may view infidelity as the ultimate deal-breaker. But as relationships mature and bonds grow deeper, the subject becomes less clear-cut. After years or even decades of building a life together, couples may wonder whether breaking it off is the only option.
The truth is, infidelity doesn't always have to mean the end of a relationship. In fact, partners who move beyond the pain and stigma of an affair often find they learn things about themselves and each other that ultimately make their relationship stronger.
Infidelity affected the lives of David and Bathsheba in Biblical times, as well as those of Paris and Helen of Troy in ancient Greece. No less than four U.S. presidents--Thomas Jefferson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and most notoriously, Bill Clinton--have succumbed to its lure. So have civic leaders (Martin Luther King, Jr.) and royalty (Prince Charles and Princess Diana).
Dr. Shirley Glass, a Baltimore psychologist, has been doing research on the subject for over 20 years. In an article in the New York Daily News, Glass estimated that about 25 percent of wives and 45 percent of husbands have full-fledged affairs, with another 15 percent engaging in emotional affairs without sex involved.
Read on to learn about some of the most common factors that lead to infidelity, signs that can help you determine if an affair is taking place, and ways to possibly work through it.
Why We Stray 
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