Women in their 40s suffer from mirror phobia

London: A new survey has revealed that middle-aged women are four times more unhappy than teenage girls with what they see in the mirror.

The study, which was carried out online by Opinion Matters in January 2011 of 1,246 women, discovered that over 90 percent of women aged in their 40s and 50s are so unhappy with the way they look that they suffer from what experts have dubbed ``mid-life mirror angst syndrome``. Just nine percent of women over 50 felt proud of what they see in the mirror, over four times more than the 42 per cent of 16-19-year-olds who are happy with what they see and the 43 per cent of twenty-somethings. Changes wrought by age, combined with a youth-obsessed fashion industry, led to a dramatic drop in body confidence for women the older they get - resulting in Midlife Mirror Angst Syndrome. “Fashion is aimed at a youthful figure - and the more mature woman can all too often find that she isn’t catered for. Psychologically, the effect is dramatic and demoralising,” the Daily Mail quoted adult behaviour psychologist Susan Quilliam as saying. “She feels sidelined, even alienated, by the fact that her appearance does not fit the youthful ``norm``. "The result can be depression, or what I term ``Midlife Mirror Angst Syndrome’,” added Quilliam. ANI