Nostalgia

[Kai12]

Hello forum.

I have been looking up for any information about my intense feeling of nostalgia. I dont suffer from depression or anything else. I have some social anxiety but its not serious.

Maybe once a week I get a massive hit of nostalgia, and I hate it when it goes even though it does not feel normal. I get a trigger like a old clip, music, smells or its environmental and it lasts for maybe 30 seconds.

It hits me like a ton of bricks, and it feels like I am actually there feeling what I was despite probably not feeling it at the time (smells and some visuals are different, but clips etc I dont understand).

I want to understand it more. I think its not "normal" to feel it, but most information I could find on my own is that it was linked to depression or anxiety, although I do not have this.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? If anyone is connected to any universities in Dublin or UK I don't mind being a guinea pig :)

Kai.

[PanchoGoz]

Hello and welcome!
This is an interesting subject, something I have suffered from a lot but found it very hard to explain to people. You've explained it well. I have to say though, this only worries me when I have bad depression so why you are experiencing this without any mental trouble I don't know...but then again what's led you to an anxiety site? It could be maye you've been through a big change in life recently and suddenly the past seems much further away?
To me when I experience something that brings back the past vividly, it feels like I'm eating some old rotten food and makes me feel quite ill. It's like a place I shouldn't go, like I've unbottled a great stink. I have had it a lot recently with a cold - the cold I have had came with that "cold taste" you get from the phlegm, and this takes me straight back to winter at school and staying home ill. It's a time I don't want to think about and I felt like I was being dragged into the past. I also get this with smells, tunes, sometimes food. There's songs I can't listen to on my player as they connect me so vividly with my past.
Often that nostalgia feels like an atmosphere to me. I was discussing Jonathan Creek with a friend the other day and he says he watches the old episodes of that because of the "weird colour it has". I think this is a nineties nostalgia thing.
Do you find you have this nostalgia if you have strong dreams as well? I find that cool too, but a bit consuming.

[Kai12]

Hello and welcome!
This is an interesting subject, something I have suffered from a lot but found it very hard to explain to people. You've explained it well. I have to say though, this only worries me when I have bad depression so why you are experiencing this without any mental trouble I don't know...but then again what's led you to an anxiety site? It could be maye you've been through a big change in life recently and suddenly the past seems much further away?
To me when I experience something that brings back the past vividly, it feels like I'm eating some old rotten food and makes me feel quite ill. It's like a place I shouldn't go, like I've unbottled a great stink. I have had it a lot recently with a cold - the cold I have had came with that "cold taste" you get from the phlegm, and this takes me straight back to winter at school and staying home ill. It's a time I don't want to think about and I felt like I was being dragged into the past. I also get this with smells, tunes, sometimes food. There's songs I can't listen to on my player as they connect me so vividly with my past.
Often that nostalgia feels like an atmosphere to me. I was discussing Jonathan Creek with a friend the other day and he says he watches the old episodes of that because of the "weird colour it has". I think this is a nineties nostalgia thing.
Do you find you have this nostalgia if you have strong dreams as well? I find that cool too, but a bit consuming.

I think I have had this for about 9 years. I thought it was normal until trying to explain it to someone (and then a few people) and they felt it but not like I did.

I do experience it very vividly. I have extremely intense dreams but that's my fault (I take magnesium before bed). Im guarenteed to have a very vivid dream and rarely have a bad dream. When I do it does effect me for the day.

I googled things like "intense nostalgia" and "understanding nostalgia". This forum had the most posts about it but across all the other websites, people were discussing nostalgia alongside with anxiety and depression.

Im kind of hoping for some scientific explanation. I guess I can say I have hypersensitivity regarding nostalgia but there's nothing down on paper about it.

Thanks for the reply PanchoGoz. I know im coming at this from a different angle from the other threads on here but maybe its helpful for people to know this, that nostalgia can be felt differently and can feel comforting.

"Atmosphere" is the perfect word to describe it as well, thanks for giving me that word :) it is fairly consuming.

[AuntieMoosie]

I too, quite often go through spells of intense nostalgia.

I've thought about it a lot, and I think my reasons for it are that I know that I felt so much more happy, safe, secure and peaceful, back in the day.

If I had my way, I would have everything in my flat 60's/70's style, not sure if it would really help me though, as I would kind of end up hiding in my flat because I would feel so comfortable in it.

I think I'll end up one day an eccentric old lady, that would never surprise me.

Interesting thread :)

[PanchoGoz]

If I had my way, I would have everything in my flat 60's/70's style, not sure if it would really help me though, as I would kind of end up hiding in my flat because I would feel so comfortable in it.
You should see my house :D My guitar and record player are both from 1973. Favourite year.

[AuntieMoosie]

You should see my house :D My guitar and record player are both from 1973. Favourite year.

Sounds good :D

I think most of the 70's held good memories for me :D

[Kai12]

Funnily enough the day after I post here my wife went to the doctor, and is starting to take Lexapro for depression. I know its not related but I wont start a new thread, since if she knew I was discussing it here she would kill me :D

[CeeCeeCee]

[QUOTE=PanchoGoz;1204334]Hello and welcome!
"I have had it a lot recently with a cold - the cold I have had came with that "cold taste" you get from the phlegm, and this takes me straight back to winter at school and staying home ill"

I can't believe you get this too. I was always getting bronchitis as a child and that taste is awful and unmistakeable. Now when I get it, and if I am lying down on the settee during the day, I feel like I am back there. However for me it is comforting. I actually have a chest infection at the moment and have the horrible taste when I cough. What a strange thing to remind someone of their childhood...:shrug: