According to a survey carried out in 1994, 86% of the young people consulted (with an average of 20 years old) stated that they believed in the existence of the so-called “midlife crisis”, also known as midlife crisis It is a concept known for a long time, although it was in 1965 when someone decided to give it a name.
Specifically, it was the psychoanalyst Elliot Jaques who named certain patterns of behavior that he had observed in many artists when they entered the life stage that goes from 40 to 50 and early 50 years as a crisis of maturity, something that could be interpreted as an attempt to relive the university age, something that went hand in hand with the frustration produced by not experiencing authentic youth.
Today, everything seems to indicate that concern about midlife crisis is no less widespread In an era in which the reign of appearances has become even more totalizing and in which the idealization of youth and appearanceism covers practically all marketing products, many forms of artistic expression and even political communication , being over 40 could almost seem like a crime, and we seem condemned to suffer extra discomfort when going through that phase of life. But… is the midlife crisis really widespread?
Within the broad umbrella of possibilities that encompasses a concept as generic as the midlife crisis, a distinction is usually made between one that appears around the age of 40 and another related to ages close to 50. In both cases, similar situations occur.
On the one hand, Every time a decade passes since birth, a threshold is crossed which, although it does not in all cases imply a qualitative change in biological development (as occurs with puberty, for example), it has a strong psychological impact. Artificial and socially constructed, but no less real for that.
On the other hand, in middle age there is a greater awareness of one’s own mortality, partly due to the signs of physical wear and tear that begin to be noticed on one’s body, and partly also due to elements of the environment, such as the fact that At this stage, the expectations of major life changes are greatly reduced and the biggest novelty that lies ahead is retirement, or the possibility that during those years more loved ones, such as fathers and mothers or uncles, will die and one will have to go through the duel.
Thus, it is easy to imagine that the longing for youth will grow, but a priori that does not mean that this will happen or that it will be such a strong blow that it can be called a “crisis”; It is only a theoretical, hypothetical explanation of elements that could lead to this psychological phenomenon. Let us now go to What we know about the midlife crisis thanks to empirical contrast. To what extent does it exist?
Midlife crisis: reality or myth?
In his excellent book 50 great myths of Popular PsychologyScott O. Lilienfield, Steven Jay Lynn, John Ruscio, and Barry Beyerstein offer significant amounts of evidence that the catastrophic notion that most people will experience a midlife crisis is exaggerated, although it has a kernel of truth.
For example, in an investigation carried out with a sample of 1,501 married Chinese between the ages of 30 and 60, psychologist Daniel Shek found no significant evidence that as they passed through middle age the majority of participants experienced an increase in dissatisfaction.
Regarding people linked to Western culture, the largest study carried out on people in the life stage of maturity (more than 3,000 interviews), men and women between 40 and 60 years old generally showed some degrees greater satisfaction and control over their own lives than they had experienced during the previous decade.
Furthermore, the worry and discomfort generated by the idea of ​​suffering a midlife crisis were more frequent than cases in which this phenomenon was actually experienced. Other research has shown that only between 10 and 26% of people over 40 years old They say they have gone through a midlife crisis.
Maturity can also be enjoyed
So why has this phenomenon been so exaggerated? This may be due, in part, to the fact that what is meant by a midlife crisis is very ambiguous, so it is easy to use that concept when describing what makes us suffer.
For example, a qualitative leap in consumption patterns, such as starting to travel when turning 41, can be attributed to the need to relive the adventurous spirit of youth but it can also be understood, simply, as the fruit of spending years saving during a period in which luxuries were out of reach.
It is also possible that communication problems with adolescent children or boredom produced by a more stable work context generate discomfort that we associate abstractly with aging, although it technically has nothing to do with that process.
In any case, everything seems to indicate that in most cases the worst thing about the midlife crisis is its anticipation and the unjustified worry it generates. The maturity It is usually a moment in life that can be enjoyed as much or more than any other and it is not worth creating artificial problems waiting for a crisis that probably will not come.
