La nostalgia es sana

¿Quién no ha sentido alguna vez nostalgia?. Esa sensación de querer recuperar parte del pasado. Algo que también conlleva cierto dolor. O añoranza. Pues bien, hasta hace poco no todos los psicólogos consideraban sana dicha tendencia. Tal vez era un signo de depresión, pensaban. Gracias al trabajo del investigador Sedikides y sus colegas, que decidieron investigar qué se escondía de ciencia detrás de la apariencia nostálgica, parece ser que la nostalgia tiene su lado positivo, que no es síntoma patológico sino un sentimiento universal. La próxima vez que se pongan nostálgicos mejor celebrarlo como puedan. Aquí les dejo el enlace. El articulo procede del NYT.

A Universal Feeling

In the 19th and 20th centuries nostalgia was variously classified as an “immigrant psychosis,” a form of “melancholia” and a “mentally repressive compulsive disorder” among other pathologies. But when Dr. Sedikides, Tim Wildschut and other psychologists at Southampton began studying nostalgia, they found it to be common around the world, including in children as young as 7 (who look back fondly on birthdays and vacations).“The defining features of nostalgia in England are also the defining features in Africa and South America,” Dr. Wildschut says. The topics are universal — reminiscences about friends and family members, holidays, weddings, songs, sunsets, lakes. The stories tend to feature the self as the protagonist surrounded by close friends. Most people report experiencing nostalgia at least once a week, and nearly half experience it three or four times a week. These reported bouts are often touched off by negative events and feelings of loneliness, but people say the “nostalgizing” — researchers distinguish it from reminiscing — helps them feel better.

To test these effects in the laboratory, researchers at Southampton induced negative moods by having people read about a deadly disaster and take a personality test that supposedly revealed them to be exceptionally lonely. Sure enough, the people depressed about the disaster victims or worried about being lonely became more likely to wax nostalgic. And the strategy worked: They subsequently felt less depressed and less lonely.

Nostalgic stories aren’t simple exercises in cheeriness, though. The memories aren’t all happy, and even the joys are mixed with a wistful sense of loss. But on the whole, the positive elements greatly outnumber the negative elements, as the Southampton researchers found by methodically analyzing stories collected in the laboratory as well as in a magazine named Nostalgia.