RadioScope: Am I my job? Woman's Hour, BBC Radio 4, Wednesday, 10am
Dawn Breslin was a highly successful advertising executive. She collected national awards from around Britain for her work and was, she recalls, the centre of her social circle.
Then, within a few months, she was the mother of a baby who wouldn't stop crying. She lost her self-confidence and even her sense of identity. That sense of identity had been based on her position in the world of advertising. She had hoped to replace it with a very romantic role as a mother - the sort of soft, glowing role that might have been dreamt up in an advertising agency.
The reality was hard. An endlessly crying baby dispelled the soft, romantic glow in no time at all and she became depressed.
Bill Morris was general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union and held other prestigious positions linked to this job, including membership of the board of the Bank of England.
Following his retirement in 2003 he noticed a loss of status and contact with his peer group but he didn't go through the same dark night as Breslin. The Labour government made him Lord Something of Something which, to say the least, beats walking the dog every day.
This Woman's Hour item set out to explore what happens when we leave a job that has become part of our identity. Unfortunately, the programme didn't achieve its aim.
Breslin's depression could have had as much to do with coping with the always crying baby as with the career change - though I have no doubt such abrupt career changes take a heavy toll on some mothers. She is now a life coach.
Bill Morris stayed on the Bank of England board for 18 months after he retired. What with that and his elevation to the House of Lords you could hardly say he was left with time on his hands.
Nevertheless, the issues raised are important to anybody contemplating the end of a career. Shedding the old identity is no easy thing, especially for people who are neither well off nor well connected. For most, there is no yacht waiting in the marina. They will have to forge a new life and a new identity right where they are.
Both Morris and Breslin believe people should not go into retirement without preparation. The issue of what to do with the rest of your life needs thinking about as does the question of being at home all the time with a partner who is not used to having you there.
Pre-retirement courses are of enormous value. If you get an opportunity to go on one, take it - if you don't you may be reduced to twiddling your thumbs disconsolately on your seat in the House of Lords.
Review by counsellor Padraig O'Morain