Why it’s Not a Midlife “Crisis”
We’re all familiar with popular culture’s midlife crisis stereotypes: the mid-forties guy who has just bought a red sports car or begun dating a twenty-something in a bid to feel young again.
It turns out that there is a lot of debate about whether the concept of a crisis in midlife even exists.
The term “midlife crisis” was coined by Canadian psychoanalyst Elliott Jacques in his 1960s paper describing how patients in their mid- to late 30s appeared to go through a depressive phase and a re-evaluation of their life and career goals as they became more conscious of their own mortality (life expectancy then was lower than it is now).
Crisis or not?
Only one in four people experience a so-called crisis in midlife, according to a 1990’s Midlife Development in the U.S. (Midus) survey, and most of those who did said it was brought on by a major life event often linked to work rather than to aging. It’s also generally viewed as a Western cultural phenomenon rather than a universal one.
In 2022, the Massachusetts-based National Bureau of Economic Research concluded in a paper that there was a “crisis of midlife among the inhabitants of rich nations”. Using decades of data on half a million people in Canada, the United States and elsewhere, they showed how mental health issues such as depression, suicide, suicidal ideation, alcohol dependence, sleep problems and job stress peaked between the ages of 40 and 50.
A period of change
Debate aside, midlife, which is regarded as the years between 35 and 60, is often a time when people’s relationships, roles and responsibilities change, bringing with it new and increased levels of stress. For parents, it’s typically a time when teenagers start to rebel, or almost-adult children move out of the house leaving an “empty nest”. Work stress may be at a peak as employees find themselves at the top of their careers or at a crossroads after decades of work. Physical abilities may be starting to decline. Elderly parents may need more care.
This may lead to a range of feelings including sadness or regret, exhaustion, boredom or restlessness, irritability or anger, aimlessness, and a desire for a new purpose.
A time of re-evaluation
In my clinical practice, I like to reframe this period as one of “re-evaluation” rather than “crisis”, which has connotations of calamity and emergency. Jungian analyst James Hollis describes the middle years as a “passage” when we have “the chance to become an individual – beyond the determinism of parents, parent complexes and cultural conditioning”.
I work with clients in different ways to navigate this period. One way is to delve into clients’ values to uncover what could spark a new sense of purpose. We may also examine the client and society’s perceptions of aging. Another avenue could be to help a client with accepting change.
The middle years can be tough for some, but research shows there is light on the other side. The Midus survey noted that most people reported positive outcomes from going through major turning points in life and said they believed they had experienced “psychological growth” because of coping with a tough period.
by Nicole Mordant