Empty Rooms

The author investigates the case of emotional cheating between married couples. There are various reasons such as revenge, boredom and the need to break free. A survey showed that 14% of UAE nationals and expatriater cheated on their partners; 19% of men betrayed their wives. But, only 6% of women do. As reported in the article there are other reasons for this problem as Dr. AlRifai, a psychiatrist, said; the most important cause is people's religious weakness. Also, he adds that the media had shown movies and drama which showed emotional betrayal as a normal act which reflects negatively on people's beliefs.

Other causes like partner's revenge, age, cultual and an intellectual difference sometimes creates gaps between them. The case becomes more serious when the husband is older than his wife and this emotional cheating destroys the family. Emotional dishonesty has many effects which influence and harm children emotionally. This fact increases in developed countries because materialistic values increase and as this type of development rises, values decrease.

Finally, as Dr. Ghubash, professor of sociology, said; in this study marriage provides psychological stability and any betrayal undermines it. Also, she included emotional and intellectual suitability as very important for couples. In addition, she added that maintaining strong Islamic values will protect families from betrayals. However, we should not disregard the awareness given by the institutions of society before marriage so they can deal with any issues associated to suitability of partners to avoid emotional cheating.

(AlDanhani, Khalid. "Empty Rooms." 999 Issue: 480, Dec. 2010: 23-26. In print)

(247) Words