Wondering if you’re falling out of love with your partner can be deeply unsettling, stirring up feelings like guilt, confusion, and sadness.
Avoiding your partner might seem like a temporary fix, but it actually signals a need for serious work on the relationship—whether that’s to rekindle the connection or contemplate parting ways. Mind Body Green consulted the best therapists to unpack falling out of love, managing these emotions, and figuring out the steps forward. Among the others, our founder, Dr. Dana McNeil PsyD, LMFT was featured to share her insights on this controversial topic.
According to Dr. McNeil, one sign of falling out of love with your partner is when you start distancing yourself from them:
You’re distancing yourself
Distance doesn’t always make the heart grow fonder. If you feel yourself trying to put distance between you and your partner emotionally, physically, or mentally, then that could be a red flag that you’re having a hard time being in your relationship, according to licensed marriage and family therapist Dana McNeil, PsyD.
Another telltale sign is when you refuse to communicate with your partner, which can also described as “stonewalling”
You refuse to communicate
“Stonewalling,” or refusing to communicate with your partner about your emotions or experiences, may indicate that you’ve been having a hard time processing your overwhelming emotions, and “unable to reestablish connection and healing with your partner,” McNeil says.
When asked when to know if a relationship is worth saving, Dr. McNeil says it’s “always worth attempting to understand and heal what went wrong”
“Your partner and you are often not experiencing disconnection because you don’t love each other. Most times the emotions that are telling you that you don’t love a person anymore are there to block you from being vulnerable,” McNeil says.
Originally written by Francesca Bond, you’ll find more interesting advice from Dr. McNeil in this full article.