Dissatisfaction in Midlife: An Interdisciplinary Exploration

Dissatisfaction in midlife is a common phenomenon and has been for at least several decades. Much, however, is still unknown about why. This review briefly summarizes literature which finds midlife lows in survey data before examining the explanations proposed for their existence. The evidence presented is interdisciplinary, often from the field of psychotherapy, which has engaged deeply with the topic. Given that dissatisfaction in midlife can be substantial for some people, efforts to understand the phenomenon and how it might be mitigated seem to be worthwhile. In pursuit of this aim, the article concludes with some research questions which emerge from the preceding discussions and which, if answered, will advance our collective knowledge about this complex and important stage of the lifecycle.