You know what helped the most from watching that program? One of Madonna Badger's therapists observed that she wasn't crazy or emotionally ill...she was just very, very sad. That therapist explained how the parent/child bond is a real connection. It's like one big nerve connects mother to child. When one of them die, the "nerve" is severed. The survivor is left with a giant raw severed nerve.

That totally makes sense to me...and describes what I have been experiencing so well...