How Nostalgia Helps Us

Nicholas Hune-Brown looks into research on the sentimental sensibility:

[A] study by Krystine Irene Batcho in The American Journal of Psychology examined the ways in which the nostalgia-prone cope with difficult situations. Batcho tested undergraduate subjects to see how predisposed to nostalgia they were before presenting them with a survey designed to see how they would react to stressful scenarios.

Batcho found that the nostalgia-prone were more likely to cope using helpful strategies, rather than dysfunctional ones. Counteracting the stereotype, the nostalgia-prone didn’t withdraw or go into denial: they sought social support and expressed emotions. The nostalgic had a deeper sense of connectedness to the past, and reflecting on earlier times could bring to mind coping strategies they had used before. Nostalgia proneness, Batcho concluded, came with real emotional and social benefits.