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Depression in men: a man sitting alone in an empty courtroom

Call No Man Happy: How Depression in Men Puts a Whole Life on Trial

Depression, Men's Mental Health /

Depression in men doesn’t just darken the present. It puts a whole life on trial — and rigs the court. In this essay: why depression feels like clarity rather than distortion, how it rewrites memory, why depression in men so often looks like anger, overwork, or withdrawal instead of sadness, and four ways to reopen a case depression insists is closed. The Premature Verdict: Why Does Depression Feel Like the Truth? Herodotus tells of a […]

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Woman looking at her phone in distress after discovering long-distance infidelity

Dr. Dana McNeil Cited by Bored Panda on Infidelity in Long-Distance Relationships

Affairs/Infidelity, As Seen In /

When Bored Panda set out to explain why cheating so often follows couples across the miles, it reached for the work of Dr. Dana McNeil, PsyD, LMFT, founder of The Relationship Place and a Certified Gottman Therapist. The feature, which follows a viral story of a long-distance betrayal discovered on Facebook, draws directly on Dr. McNeil’s writing about infidelity in long-distance relationships and presents her as the clinical voice on why distance leaves even committed

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woman is anxious in relationship

Why Am I So Anxious in My Relationship?

Anxiety, Relationship /

Before you decide you’re needy, insecure, or with the wrong person, get curious about what your anxiety is trying to tell you. “Are we okay?” Your partner says yes. You feel better. Maybe for an hour. Maybe for a day. Then their text seems shorter than usual. They seem distracted at dinner. They don’t reach for you when you get into bed. Something feels different. So you wonder again: Are we okay? If you recognize

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Woman checking her phone late at night, waiting for a reply: breadcrumbing in a relationship

Breadcrumbing in a Relationship: Why Crumbs Never Add Up to a Cupcake

As Seen In, Couples Therapy, Relationship /

Dr. Dana McNeil, PsyD, LMFT, co-founder of The Relationship Place, was cited in Psychology Today’s article “Red Flags of Breadcrumbing in a Relationship” Here is a deeper look at what she sees in the therapy room. You get a text at 11:40 p.m. It’s warm, a little flirty, and it feels like proof. Then nothing for four days. Just when you’ve decided to let it go, a heart appears on your Instagram story, and the

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gummy bear mom feeding child

Dr. Dana McNeil Featured in Good Housekeeping: The Real Lesson Behind “Gummy Bear Mom” Parenting

Parenting /

If your social feed has shown you the term “gummy bear mom” lately, you’re not imagining it. The label has taken off on TikTok as the cheerful opposite of the “almond mom” — the parent whose pantry has room for both organic cucumbers and a well-stocked snack drawer. This parent also doesn’t panic over a Costco run full of treats. It’s a lighthearted name for a real question a lot of parents are asking: how

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same-sex couple with Gottman Method therapist

Why the Gottman Method Works So Well for Same-Sex Couples

Couples Therapy, LGBTQ /

Insight from Dr. Dana McNeil, Certified Gottman Therapist When The Gottman Institute needed a clinician to write honestly about whether its own method truly serves same-sex couples, they turned to Dr. Dana McNeil, co-founder of The Relationship Place and a Certified Gottman Therapist. Her article for Gottman.com, “Finding the Right Approach to Therapy with Same-Sex Partners,” is the kind of piece that could only come from someone who has spent years in the room with

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friends showing gratitude and obligation

When Someone Helped Change Your Life—What Do You Owe Them If You Change Your Mind?

Personal Growth, Relationship /

This is ultimately a story about gratitude and obligation — and about what we owe the people who helped us become who we are, especially when we change course. Brad Pitt has recently been in the news for talking about his relationship with alcohol. After previously speaking publicly about seven years of sobriety, Pitt has shared that he began drinking again several years ago and now describes his drinking as more restrained. But that’s actually

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judging, contempt, sacrifice and shame

The Gift Mistaken for a Loan: Why Sacrifice Breeds Resentment, and Altruism Breeds Shame

Relationship, Self-Esteem /

This article is part of a three-part series on Shame and Contempt Every long-term couple is keeping a ledger, whether they’ve admitted it to themselves or not. It usually isn’t about money. It’s about sacrifice: I gave up what I wanted so you could have what you needed. And underneath that ledger sits an assumption so old neither partner remembers agreeing to it — that this is how love is supposed to work. You sacrifice

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contempt, defensiveness, weakness in partner

The Cost of Perfect: Shame, Defensiveness, and Why We Can’t Bear Our Partner’s Weakness

Couples Therapy, Relationship Research /

This article is part of a three-part series on Shame and Contempt In Part 1, we looked at contempt — how it functions as a shame defense, converting “I am inadequate” into “you are the problem.” But contempt has a subtler sibling that does the same job with less noise: defensiveness. Gottman’s research describes defensiveness as self-protection dressed up as innocence — the righteous counter-attack, the excuse, the “it’s not my fault” reflex. It sends

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contempt and shame in couple relationship

Sulfuric Acid for Love: Understanding Contempt Before It Erodes Your Relationship

Couples Therapy, Relationship Research /

This article is the first in a three-part series on Shame and Contempt A lively argument can lead a couple to deeper understanding, trust grounded in respect for differences, and even great makeup sex. And sure, every couple gets tired, short with each other, and occasionally unfair. That’s not what predicts the end of a relationship. What predicts it is a specific tone — one where a partner isn’t just frustrated with what you did,

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