Midlife Crisis is the term given to stereotypical behaviours experienced in some-one’s forties or fifties.? It is considered by many writers to be an actual life-stage during which a person – a man for the sake of this article – behaves out of character, becomes unreliable, uncommitted to current responsibilities (including career loyalty, family and financial demands) , increases spending in items e.g. new cars, clothes, person grooming and might even have an affair with a younger person or of the same sex.
Whilst a life-stage model might be valuable, my experience as a psychologist is to maintain a personalised perspective of the person experiencing Midlife Crisis.? Each person’s story and life is unique and to lose this within a staged model which implores a person to ‘snap out of it’ might negate important choices, decisions and actions the person would benefit from considering.