There are several factors that lead to partners cheating in relationships. The first one is that they do not take their commitment to one person seriously and think that it is okay to have more than one partner. Others may have problems in the relationship and look for other ways of regaining their emotional stability and get over feelings of being neglected. A third factor is that one of the partners realizes that the person he/she married or has a relationship with is not really what they wanted in terms of interests and activities of all kinds, including sexual activity.

Quite often cheating happens accidentally. Most people do not deliberately set out to cheat on their partners. Opportunities arise and there may be a sense of curiosity and experimentation wondering what it would be like to be with another person who just happens to be available and lets you know it. Statistics do show that most people who cheat on their partner have done so in the past and are likely to do so in the future. They probably do not realize how hurtful the discovery of infidelity is for the other person.

There is no one reason why cheating occurs in relationships. There is usually a combination of factors that lead up to the final push. If one of the partners is not putting as much as the other into making the relationship work, then this can cause problems. One partner may think the other is cheating and then cheat with someone out of revenge, without having nay evidence to prove the unfaithfulness. A lack of open and frank discussions with one another is often to blame in this situation when both partners do not fully reveal their feelings to each other.

Even though you are married, you may meet someone else and fall in love with this person. You start out by cheating just to see how things work out and then it becomes a full blown affair. Cheating is stressful because you are constantly watching over your shoulder to make sure you won’t get caught. This leads to secretive behavior, which your spouse will notice and become suspicious. Then you have to try to act as normal as possible and still come up with ingenious ways to meet with your lover. While you do know that what you are doing is wrong, it is also exciting and gives you a new purpose in life. When the affair comes out in the open, you are almost relieved that the sneaking around is over.

There are two sides to cheating situations. Men and women cheat on their partners for different reasons. For some the cheating does not mean anything and they do dearly love their partners. They know that they should stop and some do without anyone ever finding out. Even if the cheating results in a divorce, your new partner may have doubts about your faithfulness when he/she starts to notice little discrepancies and so the cycle starts to repeat itself.

You can’t deny the statistics that show that about 60% of men and 40% of women are unfaithful to their spouses. However, these statistics only deal with those who admitted to the infidelity. The percentages are actually higher than this because there are many men and women involved in affairs about which their partners have no knowledge. They may also have had affairs in the past and ended them before anyone found out. Marital infidelity is another term for adultery, which is regarded as a crime in some locations.

Statistics are just numbers and do not even touch the surface of what a discovery of infidelity does to people’s lives. It is a traumatic experience to discover that the love of one’s life is sleeping with someone else. It cause grief and pain to the point that you feel you will never recover or be able to trust your spouse again. Anger is usually the first reaction with remarks being made that are full of blame and hurt. Sometimes, these comments are so hurtful that it is they and not the infidelity itself that causes the relationship to shatter. It causes emotional scars that will not heal easily and are not visible to others.

The first thing you have to look at is why the infidelity happened in the first place. The only way to delve into this is to have a discussion in which both of you lay your cards on the table and get everything out in the open. Experts place the reasons for extramarital affairs into categories, which include:

* Avoiding conflict at home by seeking comfort elsewhere
* Sexual addiction
* Avoiding intimacy with a partner that does not meet one’s sexual needs

Having an affair does not necessarily mean there is trouble in your marriage. Quite often there is no planning involved - it just happens. A sudden change in one’s life could lead to feelings of loneliness or boredom, such as when the children all leave home. To the outsider, there is nothing to suggest that one of the partners is even having an affair.

When a marriage is in trouble, having an affair is never the way to solve the problems. This only makes matters worse and leads to further stress in trying to keep it a secret. The first step in dealing with infidelity is to admit it and get it out in the open. It is much better to admit the affair rather than be caught by your partner because for some reason, it is easier to deal with when discovered in this way.

Once the affair is revealed, you can discuss what you want to do next. The reasons why the infidelity occurred have to come out, even it if means hurting your partner even more. You do have to be sincere in you apology and not only promise it won’t happen again, but you have to take steps to ensure that it doesn’t. That is, if you want to save your marriage.

It is important for both spouses to know the warning signs of spouse infidelity. Once you start to have suspicions and you start to look for evidence to confirm or deny these suspicions, you will realize that there are signs all around you - a t work and at home. No matter how careful a spouse is when having an extramarital affair, he/she is bound to make a mistake and let something slip. It is equally important to realize that just one of the signs does not mean you partner is cheating on you. Rather is a combination of signs that will lead to the discovery of infidelity.

There are different signs to look for depending on whether the spouse is male or female.

Signs That Your Wife is Cheating:

* You find that she has been taking birth control pills even though you’ve had a vasectomy. You should ask about this because there are female medical conditions for which the doctor may prescribe birth control pills.
* All of a sudden she starts working out and trying to lose weight. This is not necessarily a sign on its own, but it could be if she didn’t tell you about it.
* You find that your wife has a cell phone and you know nothing about it. She refuses to talk about it and won’t tell you the number.
* She stops wearing her wedding ring
* She has new jewelry that you didn’t buy and there are no receipts to prove that she bought it herself.

Signs That Your Husband is Cheating:

* He comes home smelling of a perfume that is different from yours
* You find condoms in his pocket when you have had your tubes tied or you are taking birth control pills
* You find receipts for hotel rooms and purchases that you don’t know anything about
* The passenger seat is always moved in the car
* He has a separate cell phone with the bill going to his office
* He showers as soon as he comes home each day, which is something he never used to do
* He has unexplained scratches on his back

Signs for Either Partner:

* You notice a decided change in the way your friends react to your spouse
* Your partner has a new email address
* Your partner takes an unexpected interest in making sure all incoming calls are deleted from the caller’s list
* Takes cell phone calls in another room or has the phone turned off when you are around
* Starts to accuse you of cheating
* Deliberately picks a fight and then leaves the house
* Works a lot of overtime but doesn’t receive extra pay

In order to discover whether or not your spouse is cheating on you, you will have to become a sort of private detective and devise ways to check up on him/her without arousing suspicion. You can purchase a listening device and place it unseen in the car so you can hear conversations in the vehicle or at least his side of a phone conversation. Then again, you can hire a private investigator to actually get you the photographs.

Do you suspect your spouse is cheating on you? If so you need advice about how to catch a cheating spouse without having to hire a private investigator. There are two main ways of discovering that your spouse has another lover - you either catch him/her in the act or you have suspicions that lead you to collect evidence of an affair. In most cases, the discovery is accidental, such as in coming home from work early to discover your spouse and the lover in your bed. You may decide to surprise your husband while he is on a business trip only to find that he is sharing his room with his secretary.

When you have an intuition that your spouse is cheating, you should go with that feeling. There is no one sign that points to infidelity, but rather a combination of little things that start to add up. It also happens over time and you start to realize that things are different between you. Rather than make accusations right away, you have to start being more aware of these little things and taking additional steps to try to find out what is actually happening to your relationship.

Surveillance is the most effective method of catching a cheating spouse. This can include little things such as monitoring the phone calls that come into the house. Check for unknown numbers that call several times and then use a reverse telephone lookup to find the name and address of this person. Since most people use cell phones these days, you may have to get an opportunity to look at the caller’s list on your spouses cell phone. Then when you do have a name to start with, you can devise a way to bring this name into conversation to see what reaction you get.

You can start keeping a journal of your spouse’s activities to find a pattern. This is especially true if your spouse has recently changed the routine or schedule. You should record names, dates, places, people and excuses to give you a complete look at the evidence. Then you can compare these dates with records such as back statements and credit card statements to verify that he/she was where they said they would be. You do need to have this record so that when you start to ask questions, you can check the answers against the story your spouse gives you.

Plan unexpected visits to where your spouse said he/she would be. You shouldn’t make this obvious because it will only arouse your spouse’s suspicions and make him/her extra careful. If your spouse says he has to work late, drive by the office to see if the car is in its usual parking space. He may not be alone, but at least he is where he said he would be.

One of the best ways to catch your spouse cheating is to purchase a monitoring system for the car. This could be a listening device that you can install under the dash or even in the trunk with the microphone hidden in the car. You will then be able to hear the conversations that take place when he is on the phone or has a passenger with him. Then you will have the evidence you need to force a confrontation.

“Why?” is the first question asked when a person discovers that his/her partner has been unfaithful. To start dealing with infidelity and getting past it, you do have to understand the reasons for the cheating. This means that the couple has to sit down and talk about the reasons and try to correct anything that went wrong with the relationship. When you receive the answer “I don’t know” or “It just happened. I didn’t plan to have an affair”, it is often harder to deal with than realizing that there are actual problems. How can you fix something if you don’t know what is wrong?

Reasons and excuses are two different things, which is what you have to look for in your discussion. “I don’t know” is an excuse whereas, “I am alone most of the time” is a reason. At the same time “I don’t know” may be the truth because affairs do just happen and are not planned. For most people who do have an affair, though, it means that their needs are not being met in a way acceptable to them. Instead of talking to their partner about this, they try to find others ways of coping and this often results in an affair. The opportunity to have an affair is always around the corner if you look for it.

Men and women deal with infidelity differently. Women usually want to sit and talk things out, while most men want to put it behind them, forget that it happened and go on. This makes it hard for the couple to get over what is a traumatic experience. Sometimes the best way of dealing with it is to seek professional help through marriage counseling. Even so, there will be a lack of trust on the part of the wronged partner who will constantly feel the need to check up on the other to make sure that the affair has ended and that the partner is where he/she said they would be. It will take time to build the relationship back to what it once was.

Sometimes, the discovery of infidelity can be an eye opener to let you know that there are problems that you weren’t aware of. Then if both partners are willing to face up to the problems and take steps to correct the mistakes, then the relationship can be even stronger than before. The one who was unfaithful does have to take responsibility for his/her actions and offer a sincere apology. Without this apology, healing will not take place.

It may take years to rebuild the trust in a partner who had an affair. This will take work on both your parts to ensure that you do have a healthy relationship where all needs are being met. You do have to be open with each other and be willing to answer questions. Then and only then can you start to deal with the infidelity. If either partner is unable to get past the affair, then it is probably best to end the relationship.