I am curious to know what the chances are for marrital success when the couple meets online and within six months are married. A year and a half later the couple can't stand each other and the man has a cyber affair, where he claims to love the other woman. Do you think marriage counseling can help?

Marriage counseling always has the potential to help.<P>I would say the chances of such a relationship as you describe are 0%. BUT, my own marriage began with a low success rate due to all surrounding circumstances and we're doing better and better. Applying Dr. Harley's principles has made all the difference in the world. (Dr. Harley himself advised against my relationship.) It CAN be done.

As you describe it, I would agree with <I>Lucks</I>, that the chances are slim, unless there is a commitment from both sides to try to make it work, perhaps with counselling.<P>But Internet marriages can work! I met my own wife through the Internet and we got married back in 1995, about six months after we first met.<BR>Not that we hadn't had problems, due to culture shock, learning a new language, and W getting used to live in another country. <BR>On top of that there has been problems with the dynamics of our relationship, but we have mostly worked them out and are now more happy and committed to each other than we have ever been before.<P>So, Internet marriages can work, it's in a way just a hi-tech version of <I>Classified Ad's</I>.<BR>However, there are pit-falls that needs to be addressed, mainly that when you meet this way, you will only have experienced the other person in cyberspace, where it's easy to give false impressions (intentionally or not), and during the "honeymoon phase" it's easy to overlook discrepancies between the perceived image from the Internet and the real person, with all the quirks and oddities each of us have.<P>Back to your question, yes I think that counselling might work if both are willing to give it a try, and yes all cyberaffairs have to stop for the marriage (unless both parts agree to them under the POJA) for the marriage to be successful<BR>