Midlife Crisis: Myth?

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Midlife Crisis: Myth?

Imagine being forty or fifty and asking yourself questions like: What have I done all of my life? Why am I sitting behind a desk? And what am I doing driving a 1994 Grand Am, when I could be driving a BMW z3? Then you come home and your partner says, "Honey, I set up and appointment for you to see Dr. Sherwood." and you reply "What for?"
Going through some a midlife transaction is common in men. From having symptoms, then coping with it, and getting professional help. In movies like: "Father of the Bride II” and "American Beauty" going through a midlife crisis is glamorized, although in real life it is very painful and not as fun and not near as funny. But is it all a myth, a made up story?
Piotr Oles defines, “The midlife crisis as…significant change in the self and …men entering middle age. William Pollack, Ph.D., a psychologist at Harvard Medical School and co-director of the Center for Men at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, states that “All men go through a midlife transition…but only some go through a midlife crisis” (O’Connor). Symptoms usually occur in men between the ages of 40 and 50. After all the children have grown up and left the house to pursue their own live, men feel like they are left behind (O’Connor). Now it is only he and his wife, with feelings that their child may soon be taking care of them. Then it becomes common to wake up in the middle of the night and wonder to yourself, “Is there any more to life than this” (Adler). Toni Bernay, Ph.D., a Beverly Hills, psychologist concluded:
The things that had kept them working and kept the passion going are coming to and end. Their spouses don’t seem as interesting to them as they once did, and they’re facing years where all there is going to be is him and her (Adler).
A story in “Geriatrics” talked about one man’s experiences with midlife crisis and how he, “gained recent notoriety in the local newspaper when he was arrested for driving under the influence and lost his license” (Samuels). Drinking is another symptom of a midlife crisis or how Gail H. O’Connor put it, “You become a happy-hour regular”. According to Steven Samuels, “About one in eight older adults have a problem related to alcohol abuse.

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