Appreciating Your Value as You Age by Catherine Saint Louis at the NY Times
Aging is an indiscriminate leveler. You might have been a shapely bombshell who made heads turn. You might have honed your intellect and résumé and let looks take a backseat. Still, most of us will pass a mirror one day and wonder who is that stranger with the droopy eyelids.
It would be easy to dismiss worries about such an aesthetic concern as weak. But two models-turned-psychotherapists argue in “Face It,” their new guide for women, that struggling with changing looks can be no less daunting than dealing with a financial loss, a demotion at work or a divorce.
After decades of counseling patients, Dr. Vivian Diller and Dr. Jill Muir-Sukenick say that dread about growing older can spur an existential crisis of sorts. Such dread isn’t about vanity per se, but has more to do with a loss of potential and questioning one’s place in the world. It can lead to depression, alcohol abuse or sleep disorders, they say.
Yet, therapy isn’t usually on the short list of solutions for those bothered by an aesthetic “problem.” A lunchtime laser treatment or a $180 face cream is.
Dr. Diller, 56, and Dr. Muir-Sukenick, 57, are here to tell American women – no matter how stellar their accomplishments – that it’s not superficial to admit that aging is upsetting. They encourage their readers to figure out what’s driving them to have daydreams about a refined face-lift rather than scheduling one.
Read the full review at The New York Times
Related content:
View Your Body As If You Were 80
Seeing Beauty in All: Over-40 Nudes
Huff Post Highlights Beautiful Older Women
Cougars: Unfortunately Coming to a Town Near You
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