Marny Jolly was in her mid-forties and struggling with menopause symptoms when her husband had an affair and left her. Initially, she “kept ploughing through with a stiff upper lip”, working full-time as a primary school teacher and being there for her two children. But the stress built up until she “couldn’t cope any more” and had a breakdown.
“I couldn’t get out of bed for 36 hours and I was signed off from work. I could barely string a sentence together. It was a scary experience and I felt numb,” said Jolly, 58, who lives in Cambridge.
She is among a large cohort of women who experience mental health crises in middle age, often “jolted” by a major life event such as grief or divorce. This age group are part of a “sandwich generation”, juggling caring for children with elderly parents, while…