Mid life crisis and depression

Mid life crisis is the term given to the thoughts, feelings and behaviours that appear to develop somewhere between the mid forties to mid fifties.  It occurs in both men and women but is often talked about more in men.  Despite the simplistic phrases given to this period of life like ‘Oh, it’s just a midlife crisis!’, the sufferer may find their predicament highly alarming, confusing and lonely.  Without the opportunity to be taken seriously or have a sympathetic person help make sense of their life and choices at this time, it can lead to depression.

A mid life crisis that is trivialised or criticised, does little to help the sufferer.  I encourage people facing this situation, to dare to address the questions and choices they have been unwilling to.  A midlife crisis can be an opportunity to ensure the rest of your life can be the best of your life – for you and the people around you.

Stuck in Depression

Do you feel Stuck in Depression? Getting out of bed is hard enough in the morning for you but somehow you manage to do this. The rest of the day seems to be run on autopilot. Sound familiar? Many people experience debilitating depression and would never venture far from their home if external demands permitted. Depression is a painful experience but despite the reasons you might believe have caused it and keep it in place, often it results because of the reasons we are not prepared to look at. Changes might have happened in your life which you point to as the cause of your depression. You may not have the life you believed you would have or the partner, family, job or finances you believe you deserve.

Whilst you stay stuck believing that your dreams being granted are the only way out of your depression, you will remain stuck. You can change this situation and live a great life – but it requires the willingness to change and examine unconscious as well as conscious factors that you keep you stuck.

Bi-Polar Disorder – Creative Genius?

The term bi-polar disorder seems to have entered everyday language.  The term is used by many people commenting on someone else’s mercurial and changeable mood patterns and behaviour.  This doesn’t mean people who behave in highly changeable ways – exhilarated and intensively creative one minute and depressed and despairing the next, would be labelled with the medical term Bipolar Disorder.   Everyday stresses, burnout and overload lead to mood swings which are understandable and changes in one’s lifestyle can make enormously positively improvements.

Bipolar disorder used to be called Manic Depression by the medical profession.  Bipolar disorder is a mental disorder characterised by episodes of mania and depression.  It is different from mood swings – it makes people close to them bewildered and shocked by such extreme changes that they often feel they don’t understand the person at all.  One key factor reported is that when the person is in the Manic Phase, they can demonstrate extreme creative genius or entrepreneurial abilities.  This doesn’t mean people with these qualities are bipolar – but it does mean that people who are labelled as bipolar often appear to access creative abilities within themselves when they are in the mania stage.  The challenge they face is that they can burn themselves out through this process and the resultant depressive stage can be enormously debilitating.

If you are concerned that you or someone you know might be acting in intensively creative ways where ‘there is no stopping them’ (and you fear for their physical and psychological health), it is wise to seek professional help to ascertain how to deal constructively with this.