What is nostalgia supposed to be good for?
For a long time the answer was: to nothing.
For centuries, since 1688, when the Swiss doctor Johannes Hofer invented the term, “nostalgia” referred to first a neurological and then a psychiatric disorder.
It's not that bad anymore;
but even today people who indulge in the old days are considered melancholy - or at least looking backwards.
Tim Wildschut believes it is wrong. The Dutchman is a professor of social and personality psychology at the University of Southampton in England and says: "Nostalgia is a fundamental human experience - one that serves a number of key psychological functions." He and his colleagues want to rehabilitate the feeling and give it "the right one." Place in the pantheon of emotions ”. That sounds very pathetic. But if you read their studies, there are many indications that nostalgia is just as vital to survival as fear, anger or love.