The crisis of middle age

Today's emphasis on youth makes it increasingly difficult to accept growing old. The denial of ageing is reflected in society's attitudes and in the paucity of medical and psychiatric literature on the subject. In the middle years there is the greatest demand for adequate emotional adaptation during a rapidly changing period in life, which frequently involves two people, both separately and together. This paper discusses some of the problems which may be encountered from the psychosomatic, sexual and psychological aspects in the middle-aged man, woman and the couple. It emphasizes the need for the family physician to be aware of these difficulties and to be able to help the patient deal with them. The more successful the resolution of the middle-age crisis, the more contented and peaceful will be the acceptance of old age by the individual.