The World of Relationships and Dating

"Why would my boyfriend cheat on me?"
"I'm pretty sure my wife is cheating on me. I want to know why."
"I know that my husband has been cheating on me for years. I don't get why he does this."

Why do people cheat on their partners? Why do others have affairs that their partners know about?

Here are some of the reasons for cheating that I have encountered in my many years of counseling.

• Ed has been cheating on his wife for years. Ed is addicted to the thrill of conquest. It is not actually the sex he is after, but the sense of power he feels when he is able to get a woman in bed with him. Because Ed takes no responsibility for his own feelings and sense of worth, he uses women to fill him and define him. It has nothing to do with his wife - it is all about his lack of responsibility for his own neediness.