Men may go through a “teenage-like rebellion” at this point in their lives, says Boston psychologist Lynn Margolies, PhD. “A sure sign you may be in a midlife crisis is if you are feeling trapped and very tempted to act out in ways that will blow up your life,” she says. These may include:
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Dr. Margolies has been a presence in the media on the news, radio, and talk shows, commenting on current news events and a broad range of psychological issues.
Dr. Margolies has been interviewed by the Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, Boston Herald, Teen Voices, WebMD, Women’s Health, the Massachusetts Psychologist, and New England Psychologist providing information on subjects such as: relationships, career, self-esteem, trauma, midlife crises, teens, pornography, professional issues in the psychology field, and other topics.
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How to Get Out of a Midlife Crisis
- Drinking more.
- Having an affair.
- Leaving your family.
- Feeling that your life no longer fits you.
- You’re more concerned about your appearance.
- You feel more desire for excitement and thrills
The Birds and the Bees… and Porn
One of the problems is that porn is a bad how-to guide for actual sex. Lynn Margolies, a clinical psychologist in Newton who works with teens and their parents, tells me that “kids can get tricked into thinking the images they see are real—that it’s how they and their partner should look and act, and what they should do and feel.” If that’s their only view of what sex is, Margolies says, those expectations can lead to “a disconnected, contrived experience, instead of natural exploration and connection.” Or, to put a finer point on it, “Trying to emulate porn doesn’t feel good like in the videos and can negatively shape their first experiences of sexuality.”
Dr. Margolies’ commentary about moms using guilt-tripping as a way to cope with their children’s independence.
Dr. Lynn Margolies, a Boston-based Ph.D. psychologist and the author of the ‘Therapy Insider’ blog on PsychologyToday.com, thinks the need to use guilt-tripping as a way to cope with the growing independence of their children often comes from “insecure attachments” that the parents pass down from their own childhood. “When you can’t regulate your own feelings, you try to feel better by attempting to control what other people do, like forbidding emotional separation and autonomy,” Margolies explained to Bored Panda.
