The meddle years start when persons achieve maturity and end when they realize they are old, and we commonly call ages between thirty-live and sixty five the middle years. Thinking of life as a play, the middle years lead up to and away from the climax of the plot. In the early part of middle age, the man is the main support of his family, and is out to establish himself in his career. He is in a race toward success, and may acquire a sponsor who picks him out as a protege. In the middle part of middle age, the man is ready to come into his own and may break with his sponsor. Most persons are now at the height of their potential, know their areas of competence, and have the satisfaction of feeling in control in them. They need no longer prove themselves from day to day, for they are credited with past accomplishments. Some are caught in "promotion or success depression", and some continue to change jobs creating difficulties is readjustment. The more satisfactory changes usually occur within a career rather than through shifiting careers. In e later part of the middle age the man worries about his physical health, and experiences depression in facing the retirement. Woman frequently change the course of their lives some time between the ages of thirty-five and forty, and may resume their education or careers. Tee quarters of women are passing through "involutional melancholia".