So what is Nostalgia

noun

1.

a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one’s life, to one’s home or homeland, or to one’s family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time: a nostalgia for his college days.

2.

something that elicits or displays nostalgia.

The word nostalgia is derived from two Greek words: nostos, meaning 'homecoming', and algos, meaning 'pain.' The medical professionals who coined the word in the late 18th century were describing a serious emotional and physical condition, not the current meaning of wistful thoughts of earlier times. Originally, nostalgia was viewed as a crippling condition that rendered sufferers incapacitated by despair or intense homesickness. Soldiers suffering from this condition were often pulled off duty in order to recover their sense of purpose.

Indeed, nostalgia was considered a legitimate condition for voluntary release from military service even through the 1860s. If a soldier became too overwhelmed by thoughts of home or the life he left behind, his abilities as a fighter could be compromised. The damaging effects were a major problem for militaries and other government agencies around the world for hundreds of years. Only with improved treatments for melancholia and depression did the clinical definition of nostalgia begin to fade from history.