Last week I talked about all of the positives of nostalgia and how it can help with many parts of your life like self-esteem. However, there is a dark side to nostalgia, or at least in the past, possessing tendencies to reminisce were not considered to be a good thing. Actually, it was considered to be a psychological disorder from the 17th to the 19th century.
From the 17th century to the 19th century, when people were separated from their European homeland, many people were naturally experiencing feelings of homesickness and longing to return to their birth country. As you can understand, these people were experiencing many negative emotions and apparently this was considered a psychological disorder.
Even to this day, many people are worried about letting people know about any kind of mental disorder, or illness that they may have. Imagine in the past if you were just worried about how you were feeling when you are separated from your loved ones thousands of kilometers away. If people caught wind that you were feeling nostalgic, you could be considered crazy and in need of some kind of psychotherapy, or medication.
I can only imagine how many of my ancestors must have felt traveling all the way from Europe by ship to find a better life to Australia in a ship with no way of returning home. They must have had to keep their mouths shut when they ever thought about sharing their feelings of homesickness.
Things have changed for the better nowadays. As I mentioned last week, taking a trip down memory lane can help us in our lives to bring back memories of self-esteem and fearlessness. However, there is a type of Depression triggered by nostalgia. A key way to think back about memories that may cause depression is to not think about them alone. Talk to a family member or old friend to revisit these memories and focus on the good aspects of them. You may even be able to remember forgotten memories that make you feel even better about your past.
I think we have come far in the way that we think about our past. But I do understand that in the past mental health professionals were trying to develop a stoic attitude amongst their people. We need to think about our past but also not let it affect our present and future in a negative way.
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