Alcohol and Affairs mix

Alcohol and affairs often go hand in hand. The problem is not that they don’t mix. The problem is that they mix too well.

While researchers debate on the strength of the relationship between these two, they agree that the use of alcohol increases the likelihood of an affair.

People live out the Jimmy Buffett song, “Why don’t we get drunk and screw”. In doing so, they never bother looking for reasons to not do so (why don’t) but instead, throw caution to the wind and indulge in their desires.

What’s up for debate is how much it influences the likelihood of an affair. The researchers also debate the amount of drinking as in whether social drinking or intoxication increases the likelihood of infidelity.

Rather than bore you with clinical details and research jargon, the bottom line is that alcohol makes the possibility of an affair higher that it would have been. When both spouses drink the likelihood that one will have an affair is greater than if just one drinks.

What is clear is that the use of alcohol lowers inhibitions. People who would practice self-control often lower their resistance to their urges and “go with it”. Alcohol also arouses many people.

The combination of lower inhibition and increased arousal makes for increased danger of affairs. If you are one that is prone to drink, then added caution is needed when you are in high risk situations. Some of the high risk situations include:

-being in a strange city

-being late at night

-being away from your spouse

-being angry

-being hungry

-being tired

-having a history of drinking too much

-having a sexual addiction

–high number of previous sexual partners

There are other high risk situations, but these will provide a place to start taking precautions. Avoiding affairs and affair producing situations is much easier than cleaning up the mess after an affair occurs.

Cleaning up after making a mess may seem to be common sense, yet there are many people that want to have affairs and not clean up the mess at all. They either want others to clean it up for them or they hope that time will clean it up for them. Both assumptions are erroneous.

Affairs do not clean themselves up. Even when an affair is cleaned up, the emotional stains from an affair are permanent. In other words, there is no way to clean up everything. Infidels often assume that they are smarter than their spouses and can out think them.

Eventually either the spouse does find out or the conscience of the infidel catches up with them.

The mixing of affairs and alcohol also means that recovery means touching on both issues. It also means that relapse is problematic from both the affair and alcohol.

The video, “Preventing Affair Relapse” addresses the relapse concerns. Since the two problems overlap so much, some of the same triggers exist for these behaviors.

Best Regards,

Jeff