It would be great if you ended up making more money!
What line of work are you in?
I was a systems engineer - glorified computer repair dude. I worked exclusively on Point of Sale systems for various retail stores - Registers, robots, servers, networks, etc. We lost Chevron at the beginning of this year, so the contract with my company got cut by almost half. They were barely breaking even on me, so they figured they could make more if they just let me go and let the other engineers share the work I was doing. Good business decision, bad for me.
Well, I am pretty sure businesses are going to be hiring like crazy once Emperor Zero loses HIS job. I am not too awfully worried yet.
By the way, I am of the opinion that you should take the severance package if it is what you say it is. 5 months' salary is awesome. Take it and run. Get another job asap, and you will be fine, especially given that you have a doctorate of some kind. You should be able to get some kind of cushy gov't job, at least (ugh).
Good luck to you, as well!