What Does It Mean To Have Dreams About Cheating?

50% of women and 36% of men have reported having dreams about cheating or being cheated on by their partners at some point in their relationships. 

With most dreams having a symbolic meaning in real life, it is important to take a step back and interpret the dream before you feel guilty or accuse your partner of cheating.

Cheating dreams could have profound, hidden meanings about the situation in your life. However, the dreams have nothing to do with cheating in a relationship. They only symbolize the guilt or insecurities that you are having. If you have some insecurities towards your boss, then it can manifest themselves through dreams.

In a study conducted by Amerisleep, 23% of the respondents reported they have had dreams about cheating or being cheated on by their partners.

What do dreams about cheating mean?

If you have had dreams where you have cheated, or your significant other has cheated on you, this is what it could mean.

You are having feelings of insecurity or low self-esteem.

When you feel unworthy and not good enough for your partner, insecurity kicks in, and you may find yourself dreaming about cheating.

You are having feelings of guilt.

When you are not feeling right about something in your waking life, like doing something wrong, you may begin feeling guilty. Did you break a promise? Or did you hide something important from your partner? These past activities that cause guilt can make you have cheating dreams.

You are dissatisfied emotionally.

It turns out it’s not about the cheating act! It’s less about cheating and more about the emotional union that cheating and sex represent in the dream.

The emotions in that dream come from a real-life situation. It could be feeling guilty, bored, anxious, and angry.

You are sexually dissatisfied.

While most are not about your actual sex life, some of them could symbolize this. If you are not satisfied with your sex life in your relationship, it could easily manifest itself in these dreams. 

You have unresolved issues about past cheating cases.

If you were cheated on in the past, it is normal to have dreams about being cheated on at some point in your life.

If your partner is the one who cheated on you, it is important to resolve the underlying issues and rebuild the trust once more. If it’s your past partner, it could just indicate being afraid of it repeating.

Fear of abandonment

If your partner has been keeping their distance lately, you could just be craving for their attention. It could also mean that you are not getting the attention from certain areas in your life, such as your job. Dreams about cheating could mean you have feelings about the world abandoning you, and the fear causes these dreams.

Intuition

Sometimes such dreams just affirm our instincts and warn us about something in our real life. Have you been suspecting your partner is cheating on you? Then your dream may be directing you to conduct further investigations about it.

Interpretations of dreams about cheating

While there is no standard meaning about the different cheating dreams, some common themes can be associated with such dreams.

Dreaming about your partner cheating on you

These dreams are so common that dreaming about you cheating on your partner.

• If you dream of them cheating with a stranger, this is probably because you feel some change in the quality of time and attention you enjoyed with them. Maybe they have started working for long, or spending too much time on other things, which reduces their attention to you.
• If you dream of them cheating with their ex: Such dreams could mean you have feelings of insecurity or jealousy towards their ex. Maybe they have something better than you.
• If they cheat with someone you know, this could still mean jealousy towards what the other person has that you are lacking.
• If they cheat with someone close to you: Do this person, and your spouse get along with each other? If they don’t, it could mean that it is a concern to you if they get along. 
• They cheat on you while you are pregnant: This could also symbolize insecurities that you are having. It could also mean that you don’t trust your partner. Women tend to have low sex drive during pregnancy, which may only make them feel that their partner could be filling their sexual desire elsewhere.

Interpretation of dreams about cheating on your partner

Before you destroy yourself with feelings of guilt, here are some reasons you may be having such dreams.

• Cheating with a stranger: This could mean you have divided attention in your relationship, and you feel guilty about this situation.
• Cheating with an ex: This will make you even more guilty if you do not understand its meaning. It could only mean that you are still healing, and some parts that have not been patched up in your previous relationships are manifesting in a dream. Unless you want to go back to your ex, these dreams mean nothing and should not convince you of unearthing your past. 
• Cheating with your partner’s friend: Dreaming of an affair with someone your partner is close to could mean you only want to get close to them too and be friends also.
• Cheating with someone else that you know: If you are attracted to someone, maybe because you keep flirting with them, having such dreams could mean straying. If you have such dreams, it is time to look back and repair the underlying issues before committing the real act.
• Dream about getting caught cheating: This dream could mean that it’s time to reveal the secrets you have been hiding from your better half.

Conclusion

Having dreams about cheating is common, even when you are in a happy relationship. The dreams do not symbolize the existence of infidelity in your marriage or relationship. However, they could indicate some underlying situations in your waking life. 

Do not panic about having such dreams but take them naturally, and do not let them affect your relationship.