78 TO YOUR HEALTH
NEW JERSEY COPS ■ MARCH 2014
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 73
world, and this can be a huge contributing factor in your midlife
experience. Men often gauge their worth by their job performance
and success, so your experience in transitioning to your second
career may impact on your midlife. You also may or may not have
achieved the success you hoped for in your law enforcement career
which may impact your feelings moving forward. Women at midlife
are likely to evaluate their performance as a wife, mother or both.
“Midlife transition is looked on, more and more, as a normal part
of life,” according to Yale psychologist Daniel Levinson who proposed
a well-regarded theory of adult development that all adults go
through a series of stages. At the center of his theory is the life structure, which is described as the underlying pattern of a person's life at
any particular time. For many people, the life structure involves
mainly family and work, but it can also include religion and economic status, for instance. According to his theory, the midlife transition is simply another, normal transition to another stage of life.
In midlife, people often re-evaluate their priorities and goals.
Women, feeling they have raised their children, may want to go back
to school, even if they have been in the work force, reasoning they
can now do whatever they wish, work-wise. In contrast, a man who
has been working for more than a few decades and might have
abandoned some family responsibilities in the process, may get
more involved with cooking or home activity related to the children.
Midlife women may seem more selfish because even though they
value relationships, they feel they have "paid their dues" at home.
Men may seem to have discovered a more philosophical or spiritual side to their lives during this time.
Just like the idea of your “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder” or “Post
Traumatic Growth,” this time of your life is determined by your personal resilience. It can be a midlife transition with serious depression, or an opportunity for growth depending on the most crucial
factor: support from partners and other loved ones.
Change provides both beginnings and endings. You may grieve
the loss of your physical prowess and agility from your youth. Sim-
ilarly, many of your weaknesses in judgment and character are gone
for the better. Embrace this time recognizing you're not losing your
identity but that you have an opportunity to create a new one.
According to WEB MD, in midlife, people need to be aware of
symptoms of serious depression, such as:
• Change in eating habits.
• Change in sleeping habits, fatigue.
• Feelings of pessimism or hopelessness.
• Restlessness, anxiety or irritability.
• Feeling of guilt, helplessness or worthlessness.
• Loss of interest in activities once enjoyed, including sex and
hobbies.
• Thoughts of suicide or attempts at suicide
• Physical aches or pains such as headaches or gastrointestinal
upset that don't respond to treatment.
Behavior or "talk" therapy, as well as prescription antidepressant
medication, can help treat major or clinical depression. In a study
published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Stanford University researchers compared medication alone, talk therapy alone or a combination in 656 person