How to Survive Your Husband's Midlife Crisis: Strategies and Stories from the Midlife Wives Club

by Pat Gaudette and Gay Courter

A midlife crisis can devour a relationship. The Midlife Wives Club is a supportive online sisterhood for midlife mates-a place to vent some steam, share advice, or just get a reminder that they're not alone. In this guide, readers find wisdom from both Midlife Wives and experts on: Recognizing the symptoms of male midlife crisis Coping with the threat (or reality) of infidelity Handling bad behavior-thrill-seeking, financial irresponsibility, or substance...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399528822
• ISBN13: 9780399528828
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: Perigee Books
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

How to Survive Your Husbands Midlife Crisis

I was concerned that this might be a man bashing book, but it was not. It gave me insight to what is going on with my husband and is giving me the strenght to get through the situation. This is a really good book.

A wonderful guide through the journey called midlife crisis!

It is unfortunate that so many marriages are falling prey to midlife crisis (if you want to call it that). Point is our disposable society makes it too easy to divorce. This book is a pratical guide to help you traverse this journey. Not only is the book an easy read and very helful in understanding and keeping yourself in check, it really focuses on learning about yourself and not talking blame for your wayward spouses issues. It helps you be a better you! As well, the website listed is a direct link to others suffering the same things. That site has so much information, one could read for days. There is also chat which is helpful and one bonus is that friends can be made to last a lifetime. This book has it all and I implore anyone in the throes of this anxiety called midlife crisis to read this book and then peruse the site for loving and supportive help. It is a truly a gift to know you are not alone.

Lifesaver Guide to MLC

This is an extremely helpful book on the various ways to handle your significant other's (s/o) MLC. Although its focus is on men, it is beneficial to both sexes.It doesn't just tell you to hang on or act as if as some anti divorce sites suggest. It tells gives you real life stories of various people and how they handled their s/o MLC.It also shows there is life, no matter which road you take, whether it be riding out the rollercoaster ride, getting a divorce, getting a legal separation or just co-existing until you KNOW what is the right course of action for you.The book even shows humor in the whole process because when experiencing either your own MLC or someone else's...you have to be able to find humor.I highly recommend this book for those going through or being affected by someone with MLC. It's a very easy read and you'll find yourself closely relating to these individuals.

practical and helpful

I found this book to be easy to read, and chocked full of practical and sound advice, along with comforting words and stories from others who have been on that journey.For anyone who has found themselves on a path of confusion, as well as those who are dragged along for the ride, this book will give comfort and hope to many. I have read through it several times, and find something new in it every time. I highly recommend it.

ON THE ROAD WITH MIDLIFE CRISIS

With a skeptical attitude, I flipped open HOW TO, prepared to breeze through it in a flash. But this compelling page turner forced me to admit that I too had lived through a husband's midlife crisis when "his problem" had indeed "become my problem." Lest other "perilous journeys" along the midlife road express too much of an Ann Landers' sentiment, Courter, a veteran author and film-maker, and Guadette, the founder of [a website], provide the biological, psychological and anthropological frame that makes this book a more serious read. Old familiars like the Eric H. Erikson model give the developmental backing for new models like The Four Types of Midlife Men by Farrell and Rosenberg (MEN AT MIDLIFE) whose pyscho-babble ("punitive disenchanted, pseudo-developed, trasncendent generative") is nevertheless a window on how social class and stress affects midlife behavior.While the sections on depression and anger are illuminating, counseling couples trapped in traditional gender roles is often counter-productive whereas groups restricted by gender provide less opportunity to play man-woman games and more pressure to stop blaming the partner and look instead within. Social models like 12-step and role change groups (as established by pioneer Charles Kreiner) penetrate harmful role behaviors that keep women from thinking for themselves and men from expressing their feelings via any conduit but anger. Role change models do not encourage the use of prescribed drugs for coping with grief and crisis whereas HOW TO sees it as necessary when depression is long-standing. The problem with using medication is that the touted short-term use often turns into long time dependency, as documented by Glunmullen in PROZAC BACKLASH: OVERCOMING THE DANGERS OF PROZAC, ZOLOFT, PAXIL AND OTHER ANTIDEPRESSANTS WITH SAFE EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVES. According to Glunmullen, fifty percent of users who quit will suffer withdrawl symptoms and neurological effects can include tics, agitation, muscle spasm and - in some cases- Parkinson's Syndrome. However, HOW TO itself provides a number of alternatives to drugs: life style changes and in the Appendix websites, hotlines, readings and support groups. In the final section, guidance is offered for the most difficult task along the "perilous journey:" forgiveness. Welcome To The Club.