Nostalgia may protect from depression
Nostalgia, usually considered an unwanted emotion associated with grief, can have many advantages. Research conducted at the Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities shows that it protects from symptoms of depression and anxiety.
A study by Dr. Anna Braniecka from the Department of Positive
Psychology, Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities shows that
experiencing nostalgia helps deal with problems, protects against the
onset of depressive symptoms, anxiety and deterioration of health. It
also facilitates adapting to difficult situations, helps better
understand ourselves and our environment and prevent of mental crisis.
"It
is worth it to acquire the ability to experience nostalgia and, under
certain circumstances, be able to experience it. Then, for example,
sadness can be transformed into nostalgia" - explained Dr. Braniecka.
An
example is a situation of parting with a close person, in which instead
of falling into sadness one may recall nostalgic memories. "In my
research I found that this ability prevents long-term mood deterioration
and mental crises" - added the scholar.
According to the Warsaw
School of Social Sciences and Humanities spokeswoman Natalia Osica, Dr.
Braniecka has attempted to examine the short and long term consequences
of experiencing nostalgia. "She conducted three experiments, the purpose
of which was to examine the impact of this emotion on different mental
skills, including dealing with parting with a close person,
understanding of one’s self or social situations" - reported Osica.
Dr.
Braniecka also carried out a study, which sought to establish the
degree of psychological adaptation to new conditions, depending on the
skill of experiencing nostalgia.
"My study may seem quite
specialized. However, experiencing emotions such as nostalgia is natural
for each person. Nostalgia is composed of positive and negative affect,
thus enabling more adequate experience of reality, reflecting both its
positive and negative elements" - explained the study author.
"Most of life situations are not clearly advantageous or disadvantageous, but combine often contradictory meanings" - she added.
The
research of Dr. Braniecka concerned a novel issue in the psychology of
emotion, namely a combination of positive and negative experiences, or
the coexistence of opposing emotions. Researchers explain that in the
case of nostalgia the positive affect involves recalling pleasant
memories of the past, while negative affect results from the loss of the
object of those memories.
The study confirms the research
hypotheses that experiencing nostalgia, especially the ability to
transform sadness into nostalgia, has a positive effect on physical
health, mental health, and various indicators of quality of life.
The
research project was carried out in 2010 as part of the doctoral
dissertation "Co-stimulation of positive and negative affect and quality
of life. The benefits of nostalgia." Nearly 450 young people of 20 to
34 years were examined. Dr. Braniecka conducted research under the
supervision of Prof. Ewa Trzebińska from the Department of Positive
Psychology, Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities. (PAP)
last modification: 2011-04-21
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