Midlife Crisis and the King’s Return w/ Mark J. Platten

For many men, the midlife crisis doesn’t arrive as a quiet reflection. It arrives as relationship tension and emotional shutdown. It comes with the unsettling realization that something deeper is demanding attention. 

In this episode of the Men’s Therapy Podcast, Marc Azoulay speaks with Mark J. Platten. He is the founder of the Integral Human Initiative. He is also a longtime men’s work facilitator and teacher of sacred masculinity. Platten draws from Jungian psychology, mythology and indigenous wisdom traditions. He focuses on decades of lived experience to explore what the midlife crisis is really asking of men.

Rather than framing midlife as a breakdown, Platten describes it as a summons. “If I am the same man at 50 that I was at 25,” he explains, “that means there has been 25 years of no growth.” In his view, the second half of life is not about preserving youth, status, or achievement. It is about emotional growth, responsibility, and inner work.

Platten’s story is deeply personal. He shares how navigating his wife’s menopause alongside his own andropause nearly unravelled their marriage. “Had I known then what I know now,” he reflects, “we could have walked that journey in a sacred way, side by side.” Instead, unresolved triggers, shadow work left untouched, and generational trauma surfaced with force.

Now in his late 50s, Platten is returning to men’s work with renewed clarity. He is calling this phase the King’s Return. It is a movement from the prince’s unconscious patterns into mature masculine leadership. As Azoulay guides the conversation, the episode becomes less about crisis management and more about meaning, responsibility, and the spiritual journey of becoming whole.

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