Not Tao:
I wouldn't worry too much about the dark night. Most of the people here talk about it because Daniel makes such a big deal in his book and this is why they end up on this forum. I don't think this is very standard to meditation, though. Maybe if you're following MCTB you'll get one, haha.
If it makes you feel better, I haven't had any experience of these cycles of horror during meditation, and my real life hasn't been effected aside from getting a little obsessed with meditation for a while when it started to give great experiences like what you referenced.
If you DO have bad experiences, though, you can get out of them fairly easily. People who are in the dark night are trying to solve all of their problems by simply staring at them. This is a great way to feel horrible - it's just rumination.
I haven't been around for a while but I signed in just to respond to this.
I crossed the A&P over 2 years ago and the Dark Night was horrific, and I still deal with the negative after-effects every day, being pre-path. I feel like all the meaning is gone from my life and everything is falling apart.
Now, Bill Hamilton had a theory that each Path has certain psychological patterns embedded within, and these must be dealt with while working on paths. It's different for everyone, though. So someone could have a horrible Dark Night while gunning for stream-entry, whereas another person could sail right through (but perhaps only to be hit with heavier psychological stuff later). Kenneth Folk had the hardest time at the anagami level, working towards 4th path.
At the end of the day it doesn't matter how much the Dark Night sucks as long as you note it.
Alright, back to lurking...