Certified Gottman Therapist
Licenses:
California LMFT #99008 | Texas LMFT #205614
Dr. Dana McNeil is a licensed marriage and family therapist and the founder of The Relationship Place, a San Diego couples therapy practice specializing in high-acuity relationships, emotional disconnection, conflict repair, and intimacy concerns. She has achieved the highest level of training in the Gottman Method Couples Therapy and is known for her compassionate, direct, and practical approach to helping couples rebuild trust, communication, and closeness.
She is also the founder of Therapy Getaway, a structured couples intensive model designed for couples seeking deep, focused relationship repair. Dana has specialized expertise in midlife marriage challenges, empty nest transitions, and gray divorce, and provides training and professional education for therapists, including work connected to the Gottman Institute.
Her expertise has been featured in national publications including Oprah Daily, Martha Stewart Living, Men’s Health, Bustle, and SELF Magazine.
She is passionate about helping couples move from feeling like roommates to rebuilding emotional and physical connection.
Unfamiliar to many, relationship anxiety can be experienced by partners even in a healthy and loving relationship. InStyle describes it as “the general sense that things are not going well in your relationship, even in the absence of evidence.”
Experts including our founder, Dr.Dana McNeil PsyD, LMFT, believe that this is a common behavior. She says;
“You might feel an ever-present dread that even if things seem like they are going well currently, the relationship could turn bad at any point without warning,” notes McNeil. “There is often a sense of ever-present vigilance about the need to keep a lookout for issues that may take the relationship off course.”
But while it is common, it is important that partners must know how to handle it, as relationship anxiety can trigger a person’s response to relationship problems. Dr. Dana McNeil points out;
“Unfortunately, this can lead to the partner being asked to constantly soothe to pull away, creating more of the cycle of seeking validation and connection, “
To know what causes it, and how to address it, you can read the full article here.