The search for intimacy in mid-life: an exploration of several myths

The mid-life phase, with its component features (e.g., solitude, detachment and self-doubt), its tasks (e.g., the search for self and reattachment) and several outcomes (e.g., rapprochement, chronic depression), is reviewed. A novella by John Fowles, The Ebony Tower, is presented as an allegorical account of the mid-life crisis, and its inherent myths examined. Key clinical issues, including the attributional distorting effect of mood on the protagonist's search for self and induced states of learned helplessness, are explored with reference to literary myths and clinical vignettes.