Yeah, that's actually kind of true. When you're working, you can shut off a lot of that stuff for a while, and power through. Then that's nine hours that you don't have to think about X, Y, or Z. It gives you space, so that emotions aren't as raw, and it gives you a structure. I would never suggest work instead of therapy, but I know a lot of people that went to work the day after their spouse died because they couldn't stand to be alone with just their thoughts.
Getting fired for being in a 'bad mood' when my ex-spouse told me that they wanted to separate took me from deeply depressed to suicidal, and I got to spend the next four days, three nights in a hospital. If I hadn't been fired, I would have... Coped. Not well, but I wouldn't have tried to taste-test a shotgun.