Whether you’ve lost a job or a girlfriend, it won’t take long before someone tells you, Dust yourself off. Time heals all wounds.

Yes, but how much time?

Experts say most people should give themselves a good two years to recover from an emotional trauma such as a breakup or the loss of a job. And if you were blindsided by the event—your spouse left abruptly, you were fired unexpectedly—it could take longer.

That is more time than most people expect, says Prudence Gourguechon, a psychiatrist in Chicago and former president of the American Psychoanalytic Association. It’s important to know roughly how long the emotional disruption will last. Once you get over the shock that it is going to be a long process, you can relax, Dr. Gourguechon says. “You don’t have to feel pressure to be OK, because you’re not OK.”

Click here to continue reading this article from The Wall Street Journal.

“After Divorce or Job Loss Comes the Good Identity Crisis.” Weblog entry. The Wall Street Journal. July 30, 2013. Accessed Aug 20, 2013, from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324354704578635900864791348.html.