Being Nostalgic is a Defense Mechanism

♠ Posted by Abhijit Bangal in Defense Mechanism,Nostalgic at 11:19 PM

How many of us get nostalgic? Do you? Well, that is a question probably all of us will answer in the positive. Some of the times when one gets nostalgic are shortly after leaving school and getting admission in a college. School days are the best part of someone’s life, I think and most of us have gone through that phase earlier.

However, at times being nostalgic is also used as a defense mechanism. “Defense mechanism” is a term usually used in psychology. According to Wikipedia, it is a coping technique that is used for bringing down the anxiety levels. Most of the times, the defense mechanism is used when the circumstances can be harmful to the mind of body.

There are various types of defense mechanism explained in the books of psychology. Some of them are ‘denial’ where there is the tendency of refusing to accept cruel truths, ‘role playing’, where we assume ourselves to be in those people’s shoes that once we dreamt of. You can find many more such kinds of defense mechanism online too.

But in my opinion, nothing works like being nostalgic. It is going down the memory line to bring back the (good old) days that once used to be. I often go nostalgic about my school days. Those were some of the best days of my life. After school, there was a patch of time in college when there was total merriment, like most of us would have experienced.

Thinking of those friends brings back the memories once again. Life goes full circle and we once again start living in that time as if we are in a time machine. No wonder, at times tear stand in the eyes as well.

Please let us all know about your nostalgic moments. We would all love to hear that. Please comment and participate.