Secret Paths - Women in the New Midlife (Paperback, Revised)

Women in the New Midlife

"The author of Altered Loves . . . now turns her analytical eye toward middle-aged women. The result is both lively and revealing."--New York Times Book Review

In this groundbreaking and insightful study Terri Apter traces womens midlife course, drawing on detailed interviews with women in their forties and fifties. Apter finds that women experience a renewed sense of themselves and see the second half of life as an opportunity for psychological growth and fulfillment instead of a time of despair over lost youth and beauty.

She divides midlife women into four categories--traditional, innovative, expansive, protesting--and shows the cause for the midlife crisis and the path toward resolution for each type.

"This innovative study emphasizes skills women can use to create new visions for themselves."--Publishers Weekly

"A forceful examination of women who find in their 40s and 50s a psychological growth hormone to replace lost estrogen."--Kirkus Reviews

"An extremely important book. . . . Her writing offers perceptions rare in psychology."--Carol Gilligan

Terri Apter is a social psychologist in Cambridge, England.