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ADHD and the Midlife Crisis Crisis
The concept of the midlife crisis began a century ago with Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, who argued that greater self-awareness and self-actualization in midlife leads to a fear of impending death. Critics challenge whether mortality-related anxiety is actually to blame for the drastic life changes so commonly associated with midlife crisis: divorce, job loss, and convertible acquisition.Research suggests that 10% to 20% of adults will experience a midlife crisis.1 Among adults with ADHD, that number is considerably higher: 59% of men aged 40 and older, and 51% of women aged 40 and older said they have experienced a “period of emotional turmoil in middle age frequently characterized by a strong desire for change,” according to a recent ADDitude survey of 1,829 adults with ADHD.The 690 women and 228 men who responded in the affirmative shared stories of career upheaval, infidelity, divorce, money problems, substance abuse, and burnout.
