Medical professionals initially approached nostalgia by “thinking about it as a disease,” says Clay Routledge, a psychology teacher at North Dakota State University and the author of Nostalgia: A Psychological Resource. People suffering from nostalgia were subjected to various, in some cases vicious treatments prior to the 20th century, when psychologists realigned the condition with better-studied mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder.Wellcome CollectionIn addition to sending patients home, physicians thrust myriad other purported treatments upon these heartsick individuals. When a Russian leader noticed his soldiers suffering from fond memories in 1733, for example, he buried a soldier alive as a warning to others, while during the French Revolution, doctor Jourdan Le Cointe recommended “discomfort and terror” as a cure for nostalgia, which the French called le maladie du pays, or a disease of ones country.
Medical professionals at first approached fond memories by “thinking about it as a disease,” states Clay Routledge, a psychology professor at North Dakota State University and the author of Nostalgia: A Psychological Resource. Individuals suffering from nostalgia were subjected to different, in some cases vicious treatments prior to the 20th century, when psychologists straightened the condition with better-studied mental illnesses such as post-traumatic tension disorder.Wellcome CollectionIn addition to sending clients house, doctors thrust myriad other purported therapies upon these heartsick people. When a Russian commander discovered his soldiers suffering from fond memories in 1733, for example, he buried a soldier alive as a cautioning to others, while throughout the French Revolution, doctor Jourdan Le Cointe prescribed “discomfort and fear” as a cure for fond memories, which the French called le maladie du pays, or an illness of ones nation.
