I have often thought about how disability or deformity or age or grief can significantly effect the psyche. There is much written in books & articles, but to connect with the experiences as I have experienced these things in my own life and in those of patients, has made me appreciate with an even deeper understanding, what people go through. This enables me to deal with these issues better in my work.
I recently came across an article on grief & loss in the New York Times that really spoke to me. Copy & paste the link is below and I hope it touches others too.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/opinion/sunday/the-trauma-of-being-alive.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fopinion%2Findex.jsonp&pagewanted=print