Hypnotherapy For Midlife Crises
REPROGRAMME. RESOLVE. RE-ENERGISE. RECREATE. IT'S YOUR LIFE.
Transforming a midlife crisis into an exciting new life chapter
When we talk about a midlife crisis, we’re referring to the emotional distress that a person may experience during the transition from youth to ‘middle age’ – their late-30s to mid-50s.
Many people feel discomfort or regret about getting older, but they may not experience a midlife crisis. In fact, they might channel their feelings into positive activities, like taking up new interests, finding a partner or making new friends.
A midlife crisis is more serious and is often brought about by a traumatic or emotional event. When your feelings about getting older threaten your mental and physical health, it’s time to get professional help.
At Sydney Strategic Therapy, we’ve worked with many people to discover the root causes of their midlife crisis and helped them transition happily and confidently into a new chapter of their life.
Causes of a midlife crisis
Anxiety starts when you perceive a threat, whether real or imagined. For example, you believe you’re going to be fired. Your brain’s amygdala signals the hypothalamus (the command centre), which sends the signal through the autonomic nervous system. This releases hormones including adrenaline.
A midlife crisis can be brought on by a wide range of factors:
- Changes in relationships and roles – Children have left home but aging parents may need your care. Or you may have got divorced.
- Physical changes – For women especially, age can change your relationship with your body. You may have gained weight, your physical abilities might’ve changed, or you might have an illness.
- Psychological changes – You may have a decline in brain function, including memory loss.
- Societal attitudes and media messages about aging.
- Fear of death – You may feel that time running out to achieve what you wanted in life.
- Career changes – Your job may be more demanding. Or you might feel that age is limiting your ability to find work.
- Financial worries – You may worry that you don’t have enough to retire on.
- Regret about mistakes – You may regret decisions you’ve made or not made, and mourn the paths not taken.
There are so many reasons a midlife crisis may develop – and it’s usually not just one reason. Many factors together could be causing your mental distress.
One in four people who have experienced a midlife crisis believe that a major event was the catalyst, rather than age (such as a job loss, divorce or death of a loved one).
And any unaddressed trauma from earlier in your life could also cause a crisis at this time.
How you might experience a midlife crisis
All of these are indicators of a midlife crisis:
- Neglect of personal hygiene
- Dramatic changes in sleep habits
- Weight loss or gain
- Mood changes, such as anger, irritability, sadness, or anxiety
- Withdrawal from routines and relationships
- Feelings of apathy and numbness
- Indecisiveness and procrastination
- Impulsive behaviour
- Marital infidelity
- A feeling of being trapped in your life
- Anxiety and depression.
Any of these indicators can negatively affect your life, and your physical and mental wellbeing if they continue.
Don’t wait for things to magically change. We will guide you through the real reasons for these behaviours or changes to transform your view of aging and make sure you get the most out of the rest of your life.
Treatment options
At Sydney Strategic Therapy, we have a range of ways to help you if you’re suffering with a crisis to give you freedom and peace again.
As the potential causes are so varied, there’s no one-size-fits-all treatment. We use a flexible, holistic approach get to the root causes first and then determine the best way to get long-term results quickly.
One or more of these methods might be helpful to you:
- Hypnotherapy – particularly useful for trauma
- Psychotherapy – to work through any issues you may have
- Yoga therapy – to get in touch with your body
- Counselling – perhaps couples counselling if relevant
- Eco-psychotherapy (eco-therapy) – to get a deeper connection with your environment.
You won’t need to work with us forever – the point is to help you get better quickly. We don’t want you to suffer any longer than necessary.
What to expect from your first session
In our first session, we’ll get to the root causes of your current distress.
We will focus on your strengths and what’s important to you. And we’ll start to re-imagine a fantastic future for you, reinforced by hypnosis to reprogram the parts of your mind that have been stuck in habitual patterns for so long.
You can expect a new sense of purpose and energy to enliven this amazing phase of your life.
Ready to start?
We are 100% committed to helping you recover and move on to a happier and fulfilling life. If you have any concerns at all, book in for a free 20-minute consultation where we’ll answer all your questions.