WHEN WOMEN HIT THE WALL!

This week’s “Esther Calling” caller is worried that she’s stuck in a pattern: She cheats to escape. At 46, she’s been married four times, and each marriage ended in divorce. Today, she’s in a relationship with the man with whom she had the affair that ended her fourth marriage, and now that he is ending his own marriage, things are getting serious. “I’m afraid that I will get hurt, she says. “Despite my longing for a life partner, I question my ability to maintain a healthy and stable relationship.” Over the course of their call together, Esther Perel helps the caller unpack how her desire to escape a difficult childhood — her mother was often ill; her father was absent; resources were scarce — is what drives this flight response in her relationships as an adult.