Upside Stories Library
Stay curious
Explore our evidence-based insights on life’s big questions, transitions, and challenges for people across midlife and beyond, and those facing these themes ahead of schedule.
Living With Uncertainty: The Psychology of Climate Worry, Political Stress, and the News Cycle
Intolerance of uncertainty, not the bad news itself, is the psychological mechanism behind climate worry, political stress and compulsive news checking. Research shows eco-anger predicts better outcomes than eco-anxiety, collective action buffers distress better than individual action, and older adults show greater emotional resilience following extreme weather adversity than younger adults.
Sleep, Mood, and Cognitive Vulnerability in Older Age
Ask most people in later life how they are sleeping and the answer is rarely straightforward. Too light. Waking at 3am. Taking an hour to drop off. Feeling unrested despite spending eight hours in bed. Running on less than you used to. This article explains what the research tells us about sleep in older age, how it changes, why those changes matter, and what the evidence says can help.
Adjustment Disorders in Midlife and Beyond
Most people in midlife and older age have considerable coping skills built up over the years. And then something arrives with enough weight, such as a diagnosis, a redundancy, or a retirement that doesn't feel like relief, where usual strategies of keeping busy, talking to a friend, or giving it time, aren’t enough. What follows isn't always depression or anxiety, it's often something more specific. Adjustment disorder is one of the most common mental health presentations in midlife and later life, and one of the most undertreated.
Grief After Loss: What Normal Grief Looks Like in Midlife and Later Life
Grief in midlife and later life is rarely simple; it often arrives alongside other losses, identity shifts, and the slow accumulation of a life fully lived. This article explains what normal grief looks like, when it becomes something more, and what helps.
Anxiety in the Second Half of Life: Health Anxiety and Existential Worry
Anxiety in midlife and later life often looks quite different. It might show up in the doctor’s waiting room and the 3am mind. It might show up as a persistent undercurrent beneath ordinary days; the sense that something is wrong, or will be, and that the window for doing something about it is narrowing. Anxiety in the second half of life is a significant clinical and wellbeing concern that responds well to evidence-based treatment; and one that too many people carry alone, for too long, without support.
Life Review: Why Looking Back Strengthens the Present and the Future
Looking back isn't the same as being stuck in the past. Life review is an individualised yet structured, evidence-based approach that explores how you make sense of your experiences, resolve what's unfinished, and move into the next chapter with greater clarity and purpose.
Subjective Cognitive Decline: When Memory Worries Become Anxiety
You sit down to tell someone a story and the name you need, whether it’s a person, a place, a film, it simply will not come. You walk into a room and forget why you went there. You read the same paragraph three times and feel the words sliding away before they settle. And somewhere underneath the ordinary frustration of these moments is a more persistent worry: Is this the beginning of something serious?
Feeling ready: Preparing for your first online therapy session
Beginning therapy is a big step, and it can sometimes feel daunting. In midlife and later life, this step often comes alongside a busy mix of commitments, and choosing to do therapy online means you can set aside time for yourself. From creating a private space to setting a light intention, these simple steps help you feel present, connected, and ready to make the most of your time with your therapist.
When the World Stops Seeing You: Ageism, Depression, and the Hidden Toll of Being Overlooked in Midlife and Beyond
There is a particular kind of pain that comes not from being attacked, but from being overlooked. For many Australians over 50, the experience of being rendered invisible — in workplaces, healthcare settings, media, and everyday social life — is not an abstract concern. It is a daily reality.
Online therapy in Australia: It stacks up for busy midlife & older age
See why online therapy in Australia delivers proven results for midlife and older adults — convenient, effective, and backed by real evidence.