Memory Research: Nostalgia
One of the new topics within memory I researched was nostalgia. It is a feeling that we all inevitably have when we think about our pasts, even if it is a small thing; so I wanted to research how it affects us.
The Cambridge English Dictionary defines nostalgia as the following:
Nostalgia is often associated with a longing for 'the good old days' of the past, looking back on memories that are normally fond and meaningful. Many people when being nostalgic look back with 'rose-tinted glasses', seeing the past disproportionately positively compared to the present.
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History of the Word
The term was first coined by Swiss doctor 'Johannes Hoffer' in 1688, and was believed to be a neurological disease. For most of its existence, it has been seen negatively, such as:
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Mental illness
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A form of psychosis
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A form of melancholia
For a significant amount of time it was believed to be linked with depression, as well. However, more recently it has been recognised for its positive effects in studies, such as some by the University of Southampton.
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Causes & Effects
Emotions –especially negative ones– are a strong evoker of nostalgia. Despite negative emotions being a common trigger, the resultant nostalgic reflection increases positive emotions and helps cope with problems throughout all stages of the process.
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Nostalgia is often tied to things like: music, events, people, films, games, keepsakes and similar. Whilst the Cambridge dictionary mentions it's combination of pleasure and sadness, but it can be more nuanced at times and cause other emotions:
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Happiness
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A sense of loss
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Comfort
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Calmness
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Regret
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Pain
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A general sense of bittersweetness.
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In addition to causing positive emotions, nostalgia can improve one's sense of social connectedness since it can be triggered by loneliness and counter the feeling through reflection on one's close relationships. One's sense of meaning in life can also improve whilst making death seem less scary. Thinking on the past normally helps one be more optimistic for the future. Nostalgic reflection been shown to improve many other things, too:
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Self-esteem
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Sense of belonging
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General coping
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A greater willingness for self-growth
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affective empathy
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Whilst there are is often a 'rose-tint' to the memories of the past –as mentioned before– it is possible to have 'non-comparative nostalgia', looking back without feeling like the past is better than the present; instead thinking about the positive value your life had once you are in a nursing home, for example.
However, there are some people with neurotic and avoidant personalities with more downsides than benefits and struggle to non-comparatively reflect, instead being 'restoratively' nostalgic; seeking to return to the past. For such people, it is better to avoid nostalgia, but they are a significant minority.
Sources: University of Southampton on Nostalgia, Frontiersin, Wikipedia on Nostalgia
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Using Nostalgia to Help Mental Health of Dementia Sufferers
The following I will be discussing is intertwined with dementia, so I suggest reading my research on dementia topic before reading further.
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From my research of nostalgia, finding it had many positive emotional effects on others; and knowing dementia has the opposite effect, I became curious whether there was any relation between the two: "does someone with dementia suffer in mental health in-part because they have less to be nostalgic over?" I found this study, which implies that the answer to my question is 'not really'.
The study's goal was to develop a method of 'intervention' that has couples participate in nostalgic conversation to bring positive feelings to a partner with dementia. Most of the couples were able to integrate nostalgic conversation into their day-to-day conversations and had positive outcomes from the intervention to varying degrees. The only couple that didn't was the one that had spent the least time together, and had one partner with traumatic memories from the past that made it difficult.
but nostalgia can be used to help those suffering with dementia –and their romantic partner– be happier when they have memories that they share with each other.
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