We all sometimes indulge in memories. They can be joyful and sad, pleasant and frustrating, inspiring and chilling, arbitrary and involuntary, but there is a special type of memory that is completely different from others – nostalgia. These are both pleasant and sad memories.
What is nostalgia
The term “nostalgia” is derived from two Greek words nostos – return and älgos – pain. It turns out that nostalgia is a painful return to the past or a return to a painful past? Not certainly in that way.
Nostalgia is a dreary memory of a happy past. Pain and sadness arise from the inability to plunge back into that place, environment, conditions, time. For example, old people recall their youth with warmth and a hint of bitterness, in which they were active and healthy. Someone with warmth and longing recalls a carefree childhood, grandmother’s pies, mother’s hugs.
Nostalgia was discovered by the Swiss physician Johann Hofer at the end of the 17th century. He noticed her with soldiers who were serving away from home. Johann called the phenomenon nostalgia, and saw the main reason in a strong homesickness. Interestingly, the physician even noted the symptoms of the condition:
- fatigue;
- sleep problems;
- heart rhythm disturbances;
- chills, fever;
- digestive problems;
- panic attacks.
Symptoms disappeared as soon as the soldiers returned home. Domestic doctor N.I. Pirogov later argued that one could even die of such melancholy.
For a long time, nostalgia was viewed as a neurological disease. Since the 20th century, it has been described as a mental state similar to depression. But if the first psychologists among the reasons for nostalgia called a person’s inability to part with childhood, a desire to return to infancy, then modern researchers describe nostalgia as a longing for the past. It is less often viewed in the context of mental illness, disorders, and is increasingly described as a touching and pleasant memory.
Why do people feel nostalgic
If memories hurt, then why are people attached to them? Oddly enough, they help a person to feel whole, happy, harmonious.
Sociologists note that people are more prone to nostalgia in difficult situations:
- unstable social, financial, political situation;
- personal, social crisis;
- tiredness, overwork;
- doubts, internal contradictions;
- weakness of spirit;
- feeling of loneliness, uselessness, alienation;
- difficulties in relationships with oneself, the environment.
Why are we nostalgic at these moments? To plunge into the memories of times of confidence, stability, happiness and feel whole, strong in the present.
It has been scientifically proven that fond memories promote the production of happiness hormones, improve mood, and enhance self-esteem and self-confidence. And with a clear mind and a favorable mood, it is easier to find a solution to a difficult situation.
But nostalgia does not always arise in a difficult life situation, sometimes it is enough to see some symbol from the past. Surely you had this: you meet in the store a delicacy from childhood, smiling and without hesitation, buy it, try it. That taste? Great, so you got what you wanted. Nostalgia returned your psychological balance, improved your mood, you plunged into pleasant memories even more.
Fun fact: marketers have learned to cash in on feelings of nostalgia. Manufacturers specifically “resurrect” products or recreate old designs, include phrases in the advertising text that bring back memories of the past. This is one of the ways to manipulate the minds of consumers.
But reality doesn’t always live up to expectations. It happens that you try a delicacy from childhood, but the taste is not the same, and you think: either the recipe has changed, or I have changed, or the conditions are not the same. The same can happen with a movie, a book that you loved as a child. In such conditions, there is less and less pleasant in nostalgia. And sometimes it gets completely out of control.
What to do if nostalgia is out of control
Unfortunately, nostalgia can turn into a disease. Sometimes she absorbs a person, keeps him in painful memories of the past, which each time become more painful.
Sooner or later, you have to part with everything in life. This happens due to death, relocation or natural development, changes. No matter how fondly you remember the place where you grew up, the people you were friends with, if you return there now, the same emotions and feelings will not be there. Years have passed, you have changed, those people have changed, the place itself, its spirit, atmosphere, mood of society have changed. But it also happens that there is absolutely nowhere to return and no one to return to.
It is these memories that consume people. The elderly are especially prone to painful nostalgia. They often miss another society, another country, another regime. But the inability to go back alone is not enough for uncontrollable nostalgia. It turns into a disease if it is combined with a strong dissatisfaction with the present, its meaninglessness.
If in the present there is no joy, no new guidelines, then a person increasingly indulges in memories and in the end is absorbed by them. After all, every return to reality and awareness of the difference between the present and the past brings unbearable pain.
How to deal with pathological nostalgia? Look for landmarks, anchors in real life. It is helpful to connect with other people who may be nostalgic for the same times. Together, you can arrange excursions, movie screenings, or other activities that help connect the past and the present. The very group of like-minded people found in the present will be an excellent reference point.
Epilogue
Thus, nostalgia is a handyman, one of the most accessible tools of psychological self-help, self-regulation. It’s like an emergency psychotherapy: for a couple of minutes to get to the place where the person was happy, strong, decisive, successful, and then, recharged with energy, remembering yourself like that, start a struggle with the present. But it’s important not to let nostalgia get out of hand.
