Op-ed report by Duncan Williams for Pulman's Weekly News
When relationships break down, or begin to drift into troubled waters, it is tempting to assume the damage stems from obvious causes: arguments, incompatibility, infidelity, or a loss of affection. Yet relationship specialists often point to something far less visible lurking beneath the surface. Before people deceive their partners, they frequently deceive themselves.
Self-denial is one of the most powerful forces in human behaviour. It allows people to maintain a version of reality that feels manageable, even when the evidence suggests otherwise. It cushions us from uncomfortable emotions such as guilt, shame, regret and fear. In the short term it can provide emotional protection; in the long term, however, it can quietly undermine trust, intimacy and personal growth.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in relationships where hidden emotional connections begin to emerge.
The digital age has complicated traditional ideas about fidel…
