Nostalgia: what is it, characteristics and functions of this feeling

We have all experienced nostalgia on more than one occasion. It is a feeling that arises when we look back and remember good times, moments in our lives in which we were happy or, at least, that is what we believe now.

When we went out with a boyfriend or girlfriend, when we played in the park with our friends, when we ate Saturdays at our grandmother's house... there are many "cuandos" that evoke our experiences properly nostalgic.

What is nostalgia? Does it have any use? Can it be a problem? These are some of the questions that we are going to solve next.

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What is nostalgia?

Nostalgia is a feeling anchored in the past, in fact, it is understood as longing for all time better. This emotion is lived when we feel sadness, sadness and melancholy towards our homeland when we are far from it, we feel the absence of our loved ones, we miss someone who died or we remember an object that was very valuable to us. It is wanting a past time to be revived. It is nostalgia who speaks when it is said that past times were always better ...

Its etymology offers us a good description of the feeling that nostalgia implies. It comes from the combination of the Greek words νόστος (nóstos), which means "return", and the suffix -αλγία (-algia), which means "pain". So nostalgia is the "return to pain", a pain resulting from remembering times when we were happier, or at least that is what we believe

Although today we see nostalgia as a feeling that arises when thinking about those good times that are part of the past, there was a time when it was considered a mental pathology or, more in the line of thought of the time, a disease of the soul. This word first appeared in a medical degree thesis in 1688. Its author, Johannes Hofer, described this emotion as a disease, a clinical picture manifested by students who went to the academy in Basel who longed for their hometown.

In the 19th century, the term nostalgia ceased to be used to refer to a supposed mental illness, although it was considered as a possible symptom of a mental disorder. This is actually partly true of certain disorders such as depression and anxiety disorders. Over time the term was used to refer simply to any situation in which the past was missed., in a melancholic way and yearning to relive those better times, taking away the pathological character with which the term had been conceived.

Today we know that nostalgia is a state of mind whose experience is not pathological in itself. In fact, we could see it as a defense mechanism, an escape route from an often complex and troubled present. It can even improve our mood by remembering our strengths and attitudes in the past that helped make that time so happy. Nostalgia helps us to understand that there has been a good record in our life history, moments in which we have learned what to do to move forward and that have helped us to grow as persons.

However, it also has its bad side, since living this emotion too many times It may involve navigating feelings of loneliness, lack of meaning in life, and disconnection with those around us. It can cause us to get stuck in the past, forgetting what exists is now.

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What is the use of nostalgia?

Perhaps for many nostalgia is no longer another element in our mental repertoire. However, the truth is that each emotion and feeling has its meaning and utility, and nostalgia is no exception to this. If we live it in a healthy way, this state of mind captivates us in the glorious past, helping us to be aware of the good that was in it and to see what was going so well at that time, but without getting caught in it and making us forget that the present, if it is not lived, is lost.

The potential usefulness of nostalgia has been addressed by science. An example of this is found in the 2006 study by Wildschut and colleagues, published in the Journal of personality and Social Psychology, whose conclusion was that people usually experience this state as a motivation, something that pushes us to move forward at a given moment in our lives. It is an emotion that brings with it the feeling of a vital impulse that tells us “forward”. Thus, this emotion would have both a psychological and an emotional purpose, two fundamental aspects in motivation.

We have another example of an approach to the usefulness of nostalgia in the work of Svetlana Boym. In her book "The future of nostalgia" (2001) the author exposes the existence of two types of nostalgia: restorative and reflective.

Restorative nostalgia would have an emotional purpose, being one in which you try to return to the past because you see in it a moment of happiness and well-being, something opposite to what the person is experiencing in their most immediate present or after having had some bad experience.

On the other hand, reflective nostalgia, in which one also returns to the past, does not necessarily occur after having had a dislike in the present but with the intention of learning from the past to make the present a moment better. It is looking at the past but valuing the here and now.

Besides this, other authors consider that nostalgia could have the following three main functions.

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1. Emotional preparation

Nostalgia prepares us for new experiences but similar to those we already lived in the past. Here, This feeling is complemented by expectation, filling us with enthusiasm and excitement for what we hope for., trusting that it will go as well as it once did.

Remembering past experiences in which we were successful and imagining the future in which we will use the same strategies makes us feel stronger and more confident. It is easier to fulfill a goal or a dream if we associate it emotionally with a past success, seeing that we were capable, that there is a satisfactory background in our life history.

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2. Behavioral activation

As long as we feel nostalgic in a healthy way, this experience can make us more active. How? When we remember the past we feel that there are things in it that we no longer have in the present. This It can motivate us to get going, try to make those things we long for come back.

We may feel homesick for sports, painting, bowling, or any other activity. Feeling this emotion, he invites us to return to old habits, to stop allowing time to continue to pass without us doing anything. Whether it is something old or something new, the question is to feel that happiness of the past again by doing something that fulfills us in the present.

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3. Strengthen social relationships

Nostalgia helps many friends last because, after spending time apart or not knowing anything about the other, two friends cherish the good times you spent together.

This emotion causes people to focus on the good and downplay the bad that happened in the past. Whether they are two friends, two former boyfriends, family members or any type of social relationship that there is between two people, remembering past times helps to connect with each other once they become Let's see.

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Dangers and disadvantages of this feeling

As we have seen, nostalgia is an emotion that helps us to appreciate the past to face to the present, either applying strategies that previously worked well for us or to test things new.

It is a feeling that makes us feel good seeing that we were once happy, which It can help us to see what was going well in our lives at that time and what we can apply to our present to make the most of it.

However, it is also true that being stubborn in the past has its downsides. If it catches us, it may prevent us from innovating, sabotaging our drive to grow as people and advance in our work, sentimental and social life. It can become a danger because we will stop valuing our present, taking refuge in a past that we consider glorious while doing practically nothing to change our here and now.

This emotion becomes a problem when it distorts our view of the present and the past, belittling one and idealizing the other. As a result, we let go of many positive things that happen in our present remembering over and over again moments that, although they were happy, no longer exist. The past is past. We must find the balance, learning to live in the present using nostalgia to motivate us to move towards the future.