Is there really a mid-life crisis? This is what psychologists say

There’s a lot of talk about “midlife crisis“, or also called “midlife crisis”, and how it affects people when they reach that stage in their life. But… is there really a midlife crisis? What psychologists say.

This is a recurring theme in various fields, for example in films, books and songs, which mention the dissatisfaction What it feels like when you reach 40 and over, which is about halfway through your life.

The term “midlife crisis” has been used colloquially to address this problem, a feeling of anguish and the suffering of some people who take stock of their lives and things don’t go as they would have liked. Youth is no longer there and there is a discomfort of”second adolescence“, which results in greater unhappiness and psychological problems.

Not everyone experiences this sensation in the same way, indeed, they do it differently. different ways. Women, for example, report more discomfort related to social and family relationships, while men tend to experience greater dissatisfaction with professional issues.

Is there a midlife crisis? What psychologists say

According to researchers at Britain’s University of Warwick, who followed 50,000 adults for decades, yes. They found that their satisfaction with life remained a “U” shape..

They happiness indices They began to decline from adulthood to reach the lowest point between the ages of 40 and 42, and then began to rise again to recover levels close to those of young people around the age of 70.

Study leaders asked those in the sample to rate how happy they were with their lives using a life satisfaction questionnaire. THE ladder of happiness the values ​​used ranged from zero for “very dissatisfied” to ten for “very satisfied”.

According to specialized portals such as Advanced psychologists OR Psychology-Onlinethe concept of “midlife crisis” was developed by Canadian psychoanalyst Elliot Jacques to the mid-20th century, and characterized it as “a period of personal questioning that appears more or less in the middle of life, when one passes from youth to maturity.”

This idea, coinciding with the study mentioned above, was born after observing in some people the need to make changes in their lives when they reached or exceeded 40 years of age. It’s a time when many people reach a certain economic and family stabilitybut there can also be many circumstances that are difficult to assimilate both at a family and social level.

Furthermore, they agree that this is a time in life when one becomes more acutely aware of death: And he is closer than in his youth!. You usually hear the “countdown,” which produces reconsiderations about how you live and what can be changed.

This type of crisis can be triggered by something physical (such as menopause, or an injury), or by the death or abandonment of a family member, or perhaps by the observation of one’s own aging. “In women it usually occurs more progressively, and in men it usually occurs suddenly,” they explain. This crisis is so real that other disciplines even try to explain it, such as astrology.

Characteristics and symptoms of midlife crisis

• There is more awareness of mortality and the limitation of life. The passage of time seems heavy.
• You take stock and evaluate reality: ask yourself if what you have is what you wanted and if your expectations or dreams have been achieved.
• Set new goals. If the person perceives that he has not met his expectations, he can make a radical change in his life.
• Recover your youth. Usually it involves taking care of your physical appearance again, doing youth-related activities and dressing more youthfully.
• You can try training in what you are passionate about, such as studying a career, reading books or taking courses and workshops.
• During this period you may seek younger emotional partners, seeking new sensations.
• They strive to tell the world about their new way of life, both in social gatherings and through social networks.