Elliott Jaques, a 20th century psychoanalyst, is credited with coining the term “mid-life crisis” in an article he wrote in 1965, though he in turn credits author and artist Richard Church for defining it in his autobiography:
There seems to be a biological reason for men and women, when they reach the middle thirties, finding themselves beset with misgivings, agonizing inquiries, and a loss of zest.
It certainly feels like all the recent news has been bad. Here at Weekend Reads, we don’t shy away from piling on, so this week, we’re tackling one of the least happy news sources out there: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report,” or MMWR. Each week, the CDC does a deep dive into U.S. mortality statistics — how Americans die — to try to provide some insights into what we can be doing to prevent unnecessary deaths.
Now that we’re a few months into 2021, the final statistics on the dumpster fire that was 2020 are now trickling out. This week’s long read — admittedly not a very long one but an important one for us to reflect on — is a look at the leading causes of death last year.
You may be surprised to learn that COVID-19 was only #3 on the list — and a distant third at that. That said, the COVID pandemic still had an obvious and outsized impact on nearly every aspect of the mortality figures.
