In Ken Fisher’s book Markets Never Forget, But People Do he presents two tables as shown below. The first table shows below the historical effects of past bear and bull markets and their durations.
As you can see historically since 1929 the longest bear market was from 1937 to 1942 about five to six years, and the worst performing being of course the great depression of 1929. The recent recession of 2007 lasted less than two years. As you can see bull markets last longer than bear markets on average.
The next table from Ken Fisher shows the results of when the markets snapped back which they can do with rapid accent.
As you can see a big portion of the first twelve month returns happen in the first three months.
The point I am trying to make here is that in order to be a good investor you have to know the historical past of the markets and your investments. Otherwise, gyrations and unforeseen occurrences cause fear, and an investor making poor long term decisions.