Hello Ocean Swimmer: I'm in my mid 60's now. I've struggled with mental health problems all of my life. However, I managed to hold it together pretty-much for the first 50 years. It wasn't always pretty. But I did it. It was in my early 50's when things began to unravel for me. Since then, I've kind-of gone up-&-down. During some periods I've done okay. But I've also been hospitalized twice. I definitely think that once one reaches their 50's it can get gradually more difficult to maintain control, so to speak.