One girl just literally broke into hives across her neck" when she was told she was being fired. Losing your job is so much - yes, it's losing an income and way to make a living but for many people it's losing their purpose in life.
Quote from Jason Reitman's new film which is all about a guy who fires people for a living.  How did you feel when you got laid off?  The first time (there have been more than one layoff in my career) I thought my boss was telling me I was going to get a bonus.  Instead he just read from a prepared script about how the company was doing crap and they needed to cut people - yada, yada, yada.  I felt like I was walking on balloons and none of the conversations around me made sense.  Weird that I can remember it so well twenty years later.

NPR Interview