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Chemosensory Disorders and Nutrition
Published in Alan R. Hirsch, Nutrition and Sensation, 2023
Carl M. Wahlstrom, Alan R. Hirsch, Bradley W. Whitman
If one defines nostalgia as a yearning for an idealized past, the bittersweet nature of it becomes clearer. One can never return to his past, it never truly existed. And the present reality, no matter how good, can never be as good as an ideal—which nostalgia has created. Thus, the saying, “you can’t go home again.”
Chemosensory Malingering
Published in Alan R. Hirsch, Neurological Malingering, 2018
If one defines nostalgia as a yearning for an idealized past, its bittersweet nature becomes clearer. One can never return to this past, it never truly existed. And the present reality, no matter how good, can never be as good as an ideal—which nostalgia has created. Thus, the saying “you can’t go home again.”
Naming the Mad Mind
Published in Petteri Pietikainen, Madness, 2015
Today, nostalgia is considered to be a harmless longing for home or for the places and times that were once dear to us. But from the late seventeenth century to the end of the nineteenth century, nostalgia was a difficult, sometimes even fatal disease (algia means ‘pain’). For about 100 years, nostalgia (Heimweh or ‘homesickness’) was known as the ‘Swiss illness’ (Schweizerkrankheit), because it was introduced to the medical community by the Swiss physician Johannes Hofer (1669–1752) with his dissertation on nostalgia (Dissertatio medica de Nostalgia, oder Heimwehe, 1688). Hofer believed that the Swiss living in the mountains were especially prone to nostalgia. Carl von Linnaeus included nostalgia in his classification of mental diseases in the mid-eighteenth century, as did the Scottish physician William Cullen some decades later. Nostalgia assumed a more dramatic form in the eighteenth century when some servant girls had such an intense longing for home that they set fire to the houses of their masters or killed the children of their host families. As a consequence of these tragic events, nostalgia became a term used in forensic medicine. In criminal courts, nostalgia could be seen both as the cause of the criminal act and as a medical justification for the mitigation of sentence, if it could be demonstrated that the defendant was in the state of nostalgia when the crime was committed (Bunke 2009).
The Long-Term Effects of Military Deployments and Their Relation with the Quality of Life of Dutch Veterans
Published in Military Behavioral Health, 2021
Interestingly, longing for the deployment, that was stronger related to positive sentiments about the deployment, was also negatively related to one’s quality of life. Nostalgia may account for that effect. Nostalgia is a self-conscious and a social emotion (Routledge et al., 2013; Sedikides et al., 2015; Sedikides & Wildschut, 2018; Wildschut et al., 2006). Besides that the attachment to others plays an important role in nostalgic recollection, this emotion will be often elicited when one is in contact with other persons to whom one is closely related. However, other triggers, such as discomforting states, may elicit nostalgia as well. The function of nostalgia is predominantly that it serves to counter discomforting states and restore psychological homeostasis. As such, nostalgia is a coping resource. It positively affects self-positivity, self-esteem, and optimism. In addition, it strengthens perceptions of psychological growth and it helps in finding and sustaining meaning in life (Wildschut et al., 2006). Thus, a plausible explanation for the inverse relation between longing for past deployments and quality of life may be that longing may elicit nostalgic positive memories, such as the satisfaction and pride one derived from having been deployed or brotherhood and trust among veterans with whom one worked on the mission. When not feeling well, veterans may long for one’s past mission. In doing so, nostalgia may serve as a coping mechanism in that the thought about positive aspects of momentous experiences in the past may serve to make one feel better.
Creative Nostalgia: Social and Psychological Benefits of Scrapbooking
Published in Art Therapy, 2021
Taylor A. FioRito, Allie R. Geiger, Clay Routledge
Nostalgia, defined as a sentimental longing for the past, is a social, mostly positive emotional experience, in which people reflect on special events and memories that typically involve loved ones. Negative states (e.g., loneliness, boredom, and meaninglessness) trigger nostalgia because nostalgia serves as a psychological restorative function. Specifically, nostalgia has been found to increase positive mood, self-regard, social connectedness, meaning in life, and self-continuity (Routledge, 2015). In other words, nostalgia is a psychological resource that people can utilize to counter negative feelings and experiences. These qualities make nostalgia a good candidate for therapeutic practices (Kohut, 2011; McCarthy & Sebaugh, 2011).