with Laura Dabney, MD’s Relationship-Focused Team
For 26 years, couples’ relationships have been the focus of our work. Laura Dabney, MD combines psychiatric training, psychoanalytic insight, and published expertise to help couples gain clarity and understand what’s keeping them stuck – and how to move forward.
Are you unhappy in your partnership but unsure what to do next?
Do you keep talking about the same issues but nothing changes?
You might be at your wit’s end. Conversations may go in circles. The same tensions keep resurfacing. Over time, resentment, emotional distance, or a loss of intimacy, can leave couples feeling more like roommates than partners.
Our couples therapy is designed for people who feel stuck in their relationships and want real clarity – not surface-level advice.
We work with both couples and individuals seeking help with relationship challenges – whether or not their partner participates.
No longer intimate
Walking on eggshells
Talking in circles
Feeling disconnected
Repeating patterns
Same conflicts repeatedly
Overthinking
Emotionally exhausted
Unsure what to do
Our work is practical, focused, and insight-driven.
You don’t need your partner to change first. When you understand where the dynamic gets stuck, you can begin shifting it.
Helps uncover the root of patterns and unresolved emotions for clarity and direction.
Identifies repeating cycles and relationship dynamics that keep couples stuck.
See your relationship clearly and feel confident about where it’s going.
For more than 26 years, Laura Dabney, MD has worked almost exclusively with individuals and couples navigating complicated relationship problems. A psychiatrist who has been board certified with extensive psychodynamic training, she brings a depth of understanding to the emotional patterns that can keep even highly capable people stuck and unhappy in their most important relationships. Dr. Dabney is the author of I Need You, Now Go Away! and a longtime contributor to national media on relationships and personality patterns and problems. She also teaches psychodynamic psychotherapy at the Chinese Lingyu School of Psychotherapy and consults for major institutions, including the Virginia Veterans Administration Medical Center.
Her approach is practical, direct, and insight-driven. Rather than offering surface-level advice, she helps clients understand what is happening beneath recurring conflict, distance, resentment, or confusion so they can make clearer decisions and create meaningful change.
Dr. Dabney works collaboratively with Certified Relationship Coach Joelle Brant, allowing clients to benefit from their complementary expertise when appropriate. This collaborative model can also provide flexibility in how the relationship work is structured while maintaining the privacy and discretion that have been central to Dr. Dabney’s practice throughout her career.
Clients may work with Dr. Dabney directly, with Mrs. Brant, or with both depending on their needs and goals.
We work with individuals and couples in person in Virginia Beach and via telehealth across Virginia.
Complete a brief confidential form so we can understand your situation and determine whether we're likely to be a good fit.
Schedule a 45-minute Relationship Direction Session with Laura Dabney, MD to understand what's keeping you stuck and clarify the best path forward.
You may choose to work with Dr. Dabney, with Mrs. Brant, use a collaborative approach, or simply leave with greater clarity about your next step.
A clear, non-stigmatizing look at the inherited patterns that quietly shape how we connect, and how to break free of them.
Beyond narcissism and borderline traits, Dr. Dabney maps seven personality dynamics and the path back to your own life.
In-person and virtual consultations available.
Board-Certified Psychiatrist (2000), Founder & Principal of Private Psychotherapy Practice 25+ years, Psychotherapy Instructor at Lingyu School of Psychotherapy, China.
Consultant, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs-20+ years, Certified Life Coach.
