Around the globe, the responses I get when I mention infidelity range from bitter condemnation to resigned acceptance to cautious compassion to outright enthusiasm. From Pittsburgh to Buenos Aires, Delhi to Paris, I have been conducting an open-ended survey about infidelity.Īdultery has existed since marriage was invented, yet this extremely common act remains poorly understood. And my conversations about affairs have not been confined within the cloistered walls of my therapy practice they’ve happened on airplanes, at dinner parties, at conferences, at the nail salon, with colleagues, with the cable guy, and of course, on social media. For years, I have worked as a therapist with hundreds of couples who have been shattered by infidelity. Few events in the life of a couple, except illness and death, carry such devastating force. Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.