Science: Nostalgia might be the mind's way of combatting isolation and loneliness

A growing number of psychologists have become interested in studying nostalgia, the human emotion that is unique to humans. Some researchers believe that nostalgia may be a powerful psychological coping strategy to protect ourselves against loneliness and social isolation.

Why do some individuals summon up nostalgic memories to buffer their loneliness, while others do not? Xinyue Zhou [of Sun Yat-Sen University in China] thinks it may have to do with basic personality. Psychologists have known for some time that people differ on a trait called resilience. Resilience is basically the ability to shake off life's insults, to roll with the punches; it's emotional hardiness. The psychologists suspected that people with resilient personalities would be more likely to use nostalgia as a coping strategy. And that's just what they found. When they gave the factory workers a personality inventory on top of the other tests, they found that the most resilient individuals were also most likely to use nostalgic memories for self-protection.

These findings, reported in the October issue of the journal Psychological Science, have clear clinical implications. Loneliness, at its pathological extreme, is nothing less than existential dread—terror at being disconnected in the universe. Such fear can lead to disabling anxiety and depression. If nostalgia is an antidote to such fear, Zhou argues, perhaps patients might be taught to recruit sentimental memories as a therapeutic tool for creating a healthful sense of human connection.

In short, nostalgia varies among individuals and can be related to resiliency. It's possible that the more resilient the individual the more nostalgic they are. This doesn't mean that one can be more resilient by becoming more nostalgic but it does she light why many of us enjoy sites like I Remember JFK so much.

Source: Newsweek