Feelings that your partner is having an emotional affair are entirely subjective, yet our views are molded by our pasts. If someone was emotionally unavailable in your previous relationship, then it's not surprising if they don't make the effort now. However, just because a past partner wasn't physically available to you, that doesn't mean they weren't thinking about you and feeling sad/mad/relieved about things. An emotional affair occurs when one person tries to fulfill their need for love and attention from another person through email, texting, or some other means. Often, people think that emotional affairs only happen between married individuals, but this is not true at all. Any type of relationship can experience this issue - it's just that most emotional affairs start out as physical affairs - i.e., bed hopping- before moving on to other forms of contact. People have different needs when it comes to intimacy, so it's normal to want to satisfy those needs elsewhere if the primary relationship isn't working out. If you're feeling like your partner is having an emotional affair, take time to think about what might be causing these feelings. It could be something as simple as not hearing from them every day enough for your liking, or it could be something more serious like they're involved with someone else.