The Crisis in Middle Adulthood

Changes in personality and lifestyle during middle adulthood is often attributed to the crisis of middle age, a period that goes from supposedly stressful early to mid-forties, which is caused by a review and reassessment of the past life of the person and announcing the initiation of middle adulthood.

Many psychologists speak of a transition to middle adulthood, which may or may not involve some kind of disorder. The term crisis of midlife has become a common phrase as an explanation for depression, extramarital affairs or career changes or ex officio. These events are taken as signs of a shift from an outward orientation (interest in finding a place in society) to an inner orientation (search for meaning of life itself). This type of internal rollovers can be disturbing because when people question your life goals may temporarily lose their anchors.

According to Jacques (French psychoanalyst), which comes with this crisis is the "consciousness of mortality?. The first part of adulthood is now gone and their tasks have been made. Most people have formed their families and now you may already enjoy being freed from the daily responsibilities of caring for children. They have established their occupations and have accepted a level of success. They have become independent from their parents, who can now go to them for advice and help. Are in the prime of life, but now find that their time has become shorter and possibly many of his youthful dreams have not been performed yet, or if they met, they may find they have not found the satisfaction he had expected.

If however, this finding is not always traumatic. For many people, is just one of the many changes that have life and fit them with ease. In this case, people can emerge from this type of questions with more awareness and understanding of themselves and of others with more wisdom, strength, courage and a greater capacity for love and enjoyment.

Talk about a "crisis of the mid-life? is useful because it draws attention to the dynamic nature of personality, even in adulthood. On the other hand, it is useful as it can lead to a rigid notion that all adults must endure a crisis to develop emotionally.

Currently the focus is shifting towards a new approach proposed by the model of "the right times of occurrence of events?, Whereby the personality development is less influenced by age than by the events in the lives of people and when they occurred. This model also recognizes that social changes affect the significance of the events and their impact on personality.

Whether or not this real crisis, a more accurate awareness of the limits of our lives, will always lead to recognize if we change the course of our lives and make other decisions impact the rest of them.