Therapy Toronto Psychotherapy Definitions

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Laura Di Vilio (the Beaches & West End)

Mid-Life Crisis

Though change in life is constant and inevitable it sometimes reaches crisis proportions.

Sudden death, grave illness, divorce, losing one's job, these are the kinds of dramatic, traumatic, and potentially transformative events on which our lives turn. Understanding the value of crisis - learning to embrace rather than resist it - fosters a healthy, balanced life of creativity and continuous growth.

Psychologist Carl Jung first identified midlife as a critical transition period when the callous self-importance of youth is relinquished for the mantle of adult responsibility. It is a turning point when the question 'What do I want from my life?' gradually deepens and transforms into 'What does my life want from me?'

According to most reports, sometime between the age of 35 and 60 all of us will undergo a midlife or spiritual crisis - probably more than one. By the sheer force of its intensity and unpredictability such crises call on us to reevaluate who we are and expand the possibilities of who we can be. By initiating creative transformation crisis acts as a primary agent in our life's evolutionary unfolding. (KG)

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