Chronicle of an announced death (thoughts on mid-adulthood).

Middle age can be considered not as the onset of decline, but as a stage of expansion. There has been very little written in the literature on the developmental stages man can expect to experience during his adult life. The criteria and parameters for identifying the level of maturity have relied on terms extracted from developmental theories of childhood. This article deals with the crucial issues and developmental tasks of middle adulthood and the need to define developmental lines based on clinical and epidemiological investigation. The psychotherapeutic problems involved in treating adults in middle age will be presented, including the counter-transference dilemma. It is the author's belief that middle adulthood is a period of transition which opens up options of change and growth once one has worked through the limitations of age and the awareness of one's own death.