Midlife crisis?
In 2000 a study was funded by the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Midlife Development, and the research was carried out by Cornell sociologist Elaine Wethington. After studying 724 people aged between 28 and 78, she found that about a quarter of those aged over 35 believed they had had a midlife crisis of some kind. Further questioning showed that a third of people aged between 40-53 reported having had a midlife crisis, with age 46 being the peak time for this experience. So, if you fall within the 40-53 age range, and life is causing you some concern, you might be having your midlife crisis – but you’re in good company!
Regardless of your age, if you are here you are probably looking for reassurance that your experiences are perfectly normal. The good news is that the majority of people who go through a midlife transition, come out with a renewed sense of who they truly are, and a greater awareness and sense of wonder toward the world around them. The benefits also include a new found sense of joy in discovering new ideas and pleasures, a sense of release from the redundant rules and masks that have been worn, and often provides a time of spiritual renewal and reawakening.
Karl Jung is widely held to be the person who defined the concept of the ‘midlife crisis’ based on the findings he made of his own, reflecting back on it in 1961 at the age of 81. Jung believed that we are constantly in a state of change, reflecting the experiences we have had, and the person we want to become. It is only as we are able to acknowledge and integrate the darker, shadowy, parts of ourselves that we can move towards self-actualization. “The task of midlife,” wrote Jung, “is not to look into the light, but to bring light into the darkness.”
Despite this common perception about coining the phrase, ‘midlife crisis’ Jung was more interested in the discrete phases of life more than the transitions between them. A Canadian psychologist, Elliott Jaques also studied the transitions at midlife by reviewing the work of artists, who he found frequently had a period of upheaval around midlife, during which time their work suffered, either by stopping, slowing down, or experimenting with completely different styles of work. As a result Jaques published his findings in a paper called, “Death and the Mid-Life Transition” in 1965. This was the first time this life stage had a name.
The idea was developed further by many researchers, most notably by Gail Sheehy who published Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life, in 1976, sending the idea of a midlife crisis firmly into the public consciousness.
Since the mid-1970s the idea of a midlife crisis has taken hold in popular culture, separating inner change from midlife crises that are caused by external circumstances. If you recognize yourself in any of this, you are not alone! midlife crisis has taken hold in popular culture, separating inner change from distress caused by external circumstances. If you recognize yourself in any of this, you are not alone!
