Yes, I've heard that 7+ years isn't uncommon. The guy who started the other board (and so has access to a lot of MLCers) claims that 4.5 years is about average. But where do you measure from and to? My H's "tunnelling" (measured from the day his mom died until the time he decided to work on our M) lasted just under 4 years ... but it took him another 2 years after that to process everything he'd done and then forgive himself. And I'm not sure how many years there were before the crisis began when he was feeling somewhat restless, dissatisfied, envious of others, and perhaps vaguely wondering whether he was missing something.
So, essentially, the whole MLC lasts as long as the teen years themselves! I sometimes wonder whether the length of time the MLCer is in the tunnel corresponds to exactly how horrible his/her childhood/mistreatment was....
I guess the upside to all this is to note that it usually takes a lot less time for the LBS to sort themselves out--experience and come to terms with the grief, master the difficult art of detachment, learn to nurture the forgotten parts of themselves--and in the process truly "grow up."
