ABSTRACT
Problems of middle age are important theoretically for several reasons. In the first place, there is contradictory evidence on the question of whether middle age is in fact a problem for women. After a study of middle age in 35 different cultures, for example, the author found that most women in most of these cultures do not think of middle age as being a particularly stressful time. The role one has in life and one's image of himself are intimately interconnected. The traditional woman bases her self-esteem on a role, motherhood that she must finally relinquish. Jewish women would be more prone to depression than to other mental illnesses and that European-born Jewish women, being presumably more traditional, would have higher rates of depression than American-born Jewish women. The chapter discusses the case study of Mrs. Gold a Jewish housewife who is in the hospital for treatment of depression.
