怀旧对心理健康的助益及其陷阱 [英国媒体]

In his song “Time Was,” counterculture singer Phil Ochs reminisces about a past “when a man could build a home, have a family of his own. The peaceful years would flow; he could watch his children grow. But it was a long time ago.”

在《曾经》这首歌中，反主流歌手菲尔?奥克斯追忆了一段过去，“曾经人能筑出一个家园，拥有他自己的家庭。祥和的岁月款款流过；他能够眼看着他孩子们的成长。但那只会发生在很久以前。”

To Ochs, simpler times were better: “troubles were few…a man could have his pride; there was justice on his side…there was truth in every day.”

对奥克斯来说，曾经的单纯时光总是更好的：“几无烦忧...人能够保住自己的骄傲；正义站在他的一边...每天都有真相相伴”。


  
Ochs recorded “Time Was” in 1962, when he was just 22 years old. He had yet to witness the most tumultuous parts of the 1960s – the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the polarization wrought by the Vietnam War, and the civil rights and feminist movements.

奥克斯在1962年录制了“曾经”，当时他只不过才22岁。但他已见证了1960年代中最喧嚣的那些部分： 刺杀J.F.肯尼迪总统以及参议员R.F.肯尼迪，越南战争造成的社会两极分化以及民权运动和女权运动。

Half a century later – with the rapid, dramatic consequences of social and political upheaval, with technological advances that have radically transformed our daily lives – some might similarly find themselves longing for a time when “troubles were few” and “there was truth in every day.”

半个世纪后，由于社会和政治剧变带来的急速而戏剧性的后果，也由于技术进步从根本上改变了我们的日常生活，有些人也许会发现自己也类似地在渴望着一个“几无烦忧”以及“每天都有真相相伴”的时代。

Constantly being plugged into the internet and social media is thought to be associated with higher rates of anxiety and depression. Online messaging and communication have created misunderstanding and divisions, and many feel as though they’ve lost control over their privacy.

无时无刻地接入互联网和社交网络被认为和更高比率的焦虑和抑郁有关。在线消息和在线交流已经造成误解和分裂，而且有很多人感觉到他们仿佛失去了对自己隐私的控制。

A recent poll even revealed that a majority of Americans think that America’s culture and way of life have mostly changed for the worse since the 1950s.

一个最近的民意调查甚至揭露：大多数美国人认为美国的文化和生活方式自1950年代以来大体上变得更糟了。

But what effect does this longing have? Is it a useful psychological tool or a perilous trapping?

但这种渴望会产生什么效果呢？它会是一种有用的心理工具，还是一个危险的陷阱？

A bittersweet longing

一种甘苦参半的渴望

In life, change is the default, not the exception; transformation is baked into every aspect of our world, from physical growth to scientific progress. Novelty, meanwhile, is an antidote to boredom, stagnation and satiation.

在生活中，改变是一种默认而不是例外；转变发生在我们世界的每个方面，从体格成长到科学进步。此时新鲜感是厌倦、停滞和厌腻的解药。

Nonetheless, people long for stability. Change can threaten well-being, especially when it requires a new set of skills to meet new demands. Stress can accompany unexpected or extreme change, since our ability to control situations depends upon a reasonable degree of predictability. (Imagine not knowing if a stone would fall or rise when you let go of it.)

虽然如此，人们是向往稳定的。改变会威胁到康乐，尤其当它需要一整套新的技艺去满足新的需要。极端或预料之外的变化往往伴随着压力，因为我们控制局面的能力建立在一种合理的可预测性之上。 

Nostalgia is a bittersweet yearning for the past. It’s sweet because it allows us to momentarily relive good times; it’s bitter because we recognize that those times can never return. Longing for our own past is referred to as personal nostalgia, and preferring a distant era is termed historical nostalgia.

怀旧是一种对过往的甘苦参半的怀念。它是甘美的，因为它能让我们在时时刻刻中重温美好时光；它也是苦涩的，因为我们意识到那些时光再也不会回来。渴望我们自身的过去称为“个人怀旧”，偏爱一个遥远的时代则被称作“历史怀旧”。

Although nostalgia is universal, research has shown that a nostalgic yearning for the past is especially likely to occur during periods of transition, like maturing into adulthood or aging into retirement. Dislocation or alienation resulting from military conflict, moving to a new country or technological progress can also elicit nostalgia.

虽然怀旧是普遍存在的，研究却已显示：带着怀旧情感的对过去的向往尤其可能发生在过渡时期，像是长成至成年，或步入退休。军事冲突造成的精神错乱或疏离，搬去一个新的国家，或是技术进步也能引起怀旧。

A stablizing force

使人安定的力量

In the face of instability, our mind will reach for our positive memories of the past, which tend to be more crystallized than negative or neutral ones.

面临心绪不稳的时候，我们的头脑会搜寻我们过往中的正面记忆，而这些正面记忆倾向于比那些负面或中性的记忆更具体形象。

In the past, theorists tended to think of nostalgia as a bad thing – a retreat in the face of uncertainty, stress or unhappiness. In 1985, psychoanalytic theorist Roderick Peters described extreme nostalgia as debilitative, something “that persists and profoundly interferes with the individual’s attempts to cope with his present circumstances.”

在过去，理论家们倾向于认为怀旧是一件坏事，一种面对不确定性、压力或悲伤时的退避。1985年，精神分析理论家罗德里克·彼得斯认为极端的怀旧会使人虚弱，是一种“一直持续并会极大地扰乱个体应对他现在环境的尝试”。

But contemporary research, including my own, has contradicted this maladaptive view.

但是，当代的研究包括我本人的，已经驳斥了这种不利于适应的观点。

A 2015 study showed that nostalgic reminiscence can be a stabilizing force. It can strengthen our sense of personal continuity, reminding us that we possess a store of powerful memories that are deeply intertwined with our identity. The person who listened to his grandpa’s stories as a little boy, played youth baseball and partied with friends in high school is still that same person today.

一项2015年的研究显示怀旧的回忆可以是一种使人安定的力量。它能强化我们个体连贯性的感觉，提醒我们我们系拥有着丰富、深藏着力量且与我们的身份深度绞缠在一起的记忆。那个在还是小男孩的时候听他爷爷讲故事的人，那个玩青少年棒球的人，那个在高中时和朋友开派对的人，和今天那个人仍是同一个人。  

Research I’ve conducted since 1998 has shown that nostalgic memories tend to focus on our relationships, which can comfort us during stressful or difficult times. Although we’ve become independent and mature (perhaps even a bit jaded), we’re still our parents’ child, our brother’s sibling and our lover’s confidant. In developing a retrospective survey of childhood experiences, I found that remembering that we experienced unconditional love as children can reassure us in the present – especially during trying times. These memories can fuel the courage to confront our fears, take reasonable risks and tackle challenges. Rather than trapping us in the past, nostalgia can liberate us from adversity by promoting personal growth.

我从1998年就开始指导的研究已经显示怀旧的记忆倾向于集中在我们的人际关系上，这样就能在重压期间和艰难的时期给到我们慰藉。虽然我们已经变得独立而成熟（也许甚至有一些疲惫），我们仍然是父母的孩子，我们兄弟的同胞以及我们爱人的知己。在开展一项对童年经历的回顾性调查时，我发现，牢记在孩童时体验过无条件的爱能使当下的我们安心，尤其在难熬的时期。这些记忆能为我们补充直面恐惧、适当地犯险以及应对各种挑战的勇气。怀旧非但不会把我们困在过去，它能通过促进个体成长把我们从困厄中解放出来。

My studies have also shown that people with a greater propensity for nostalgia are better able to cope with adversity and are more likely to seek emotional support, advice and practical help from others. They’re also more likely to avoid distractions that prevent them from confronting their troubles and solving problems.

我的研究也显示：有着更强怀旧癖好的人们应付逆境时表现得更好，有更大的可能会去寻求情感性支持、建议以及来自他人的实际帮助。他们也有更有可能去避开阻碍他们直面麻烦并解决问题的干扰。

Nostalgia’s fine line

怀旧的分界线

But for all its benefits, nostalgia can also seduce us into retreating into a romanticized past.

尽管有这些益处，怀旧也会勾引我们退缩进被浪漫化了的过去。

The desire to escape into the imagined, idealized world of a prior era – even one you weren’t alive for – represents a different, independent type of nostalgia called historical nostalgia.

这种逃进假想的被理想化了的之前时代世界（甚至那个时代你并未活过）的渴望，代表了一种不同且独立的怀旧类型，被称为“历史怀旧”。

Historical nostalgia is often concurrent with a deep dissatisfaction with the present and a preference for the way things were long ago. Unlike personal nostalgia, someone who experiences historical nostalgia might have a more cynical perspective of the world, one colored by pain, trauma, regret or adverse childhood experiences.

历史怀旧通常是和一种对当下的深度不满伴生的，是一种对长久以前的事物存在方式的偏好。和个人怀旧不同，那些经历着历史怀旧的人可能对世界持着更愤世嫉俗的看法，他们被疼痛、创伤、悔恨或童年的逆境左右。

Nonetheless, from a treatment perspective, reports suggest that personal nostalgia can be used therapeutically to help individuals move beyond trauma in the aftermath of violence, exile or loss. At the same time, someone who has endured trauma, without proper treatment, could become subsumed by a malignant form of nostalgia that leads to a perpetual yearning to return to the past.

尽管如此，从治疗的角度来看，报告表明：个人怀旧在临床上可以被用来帮助个体超脱那些暴力、背井离乡或丧亲之后出现的创伤。与此同时，那些忍受着创伤而没有得到适当治疗的人会变得被归入一种恶性形态的怀旧，导致一种重复不停的回到过去的渴望。

Ultimately, when we focus on our own life experiences – falling back on our store of happy memories – nostalgia is a useful tool. It’s a way to harness the past internally to endure change – and create hope for the future.

基本上，当我们聚焦于自己的人生体验，借助于我们大量的幸福记忆时，怀旧便是一种有用的工具。这是一种在内部驾驭过往的方式，可用来耐受变化，并为未来创造希望。


Robert J Kolker
Oh for the good old days!  The days of chattel slavery.  The days of uncontrolled infectious diseases.  The days of dying before one reaches his/her 60 th birthday.  The days of half one’s children dying before their fifth birthday.   Weren’t they the Good Old Days!

哦！为了美好的旧日时光！那些奴隶制度的时光。那些不受控制的传染病的时光。那些活不过60岁的时光。那些一半的孩子活不过15岁的时光。难道它们不是美好的旧日时光吗？

Allan Edie
You beat me to the draw sir.  Details aside, nostalgic yearnings are all too often being very blindly selective in considering the past better than the present.

（回复楼上层主）你打败我了先生。不说细节，怀旧的渴望通常都是念及过去好过今日而盲目选择的。

Terrence Treft
your points are well made, but when the author says that a recent poll shows people today “think that America’s culture and way of life have mostly changed for the worse since the 1950s”, they are (i believe) referring to the ghost of the enigmatic and mostly material american dream. 
when we look for historical nostalgia, we are not, as you noted, considering the realities of the past, but looking in a rear view mirror where the past may seem bigger and better than it really was.

（回复层主）你很好地表达了你的观点，但当作者说一个新近的民调显示如今的人们“认为美国的文化和生活方式自1950年代以来大体上变得更糟了”，我相信他们指的是有些神秘而大体上物欲的美国梦之魂。
当我们指望历史怀旧时，我们并不是像你提到的那样念及过去的现实，而是像看后视镜一般，过往在其中可能比真实情况看上去更大更好。

a case in point is the winslow homer painting of the boys in the pasture from the later 19th century. only ten years removed from the civil war, americans were harking back to a better age in the rear view mirror of their memories. homer made a good living as a genre painter of nostalgic american scenes, where his romantic predecessors had/were busily engaged in philosophical dialog with nature and religion, also nostalgic concepts, in a way.

一个恰当的例子是温斯洛·霍默19世纪晚期的画作《牧场上的男孩》。从内战中解脱出来仅仅10年，美国人民正通过他们记忆的后视镜回想着一个更好的时代。霍默作为一个以怀旧色彩的美国日常场景为主题的画家活得很不错，那时他那些浪漫主义的前辈们忙着从事和自然、宗教的哲学对话，某种程度上怀揣的也是怀旧的思想。  

（译注：温斯洛·霍默是19世纪下半叶最重要的美国画家之一，其作品被认为是美国精神的象征，其作《牧场上的男孩》见本文配图，创作于1874年，布面油画750×502cm，收藏于美国波士顿美术馆）

but few people today identify with the idylls in homer’s painting. if we look at what sells in america today, it is not the stodgy antiques of past times (other than those of investment value) but the modernists goods and gizmos that serve as a substitute for self-esteem and self-reliance. 

但是今天没什么人能与霍默画中的田园牧歌产生共鸣。如果我们检视下今天的美国在贩卖的都是些什么，不是守旧的来自过去时代的古董（除了那些有投资价值的），而是现代主义的商品和小玩意儿，它们充当了自尊和自立的替代品。 

Agu Domini
Thank you for this excellent piece of scholarship. I had never considered that there was a distinction between historical versus personal nostalgia, but having read this now I can see the difference, which is important. While it may do little good to sit and stew about how much better our lives might have been had we lived in another age, I can see the use of remembering personal events that made us into the individuals we became. Fantastic article and I look forward to more.

感谢您作出了这样优秀的学术成果。我从没想到过历史怀旧和个人怀旧之间是有个区分的，但看过这篇后我现在能理解其区别了，这很重要。枯坐着苦思如我们生活在另一个时代生活可能会好多少，虽然这样不会有什么好处，我却能领会牢记私人事件的用处，那能把我们化为我们变成的那个人。美妙极了的文章，我还要想要更多。

Krystine Batcho
Thank you so much for drawing attention to the distinction between different types of nostalgia.  Unfortunately, we have the same term “nostalgia” for both.  The absence of different labels has resulted in a great deal of confusion, with people often arguing past one another, using the same word to refer to different phenomena.This semantic problem is ironic, given that the word “nostalgia” itself was coined in 1688 to designate an extreme state of homesickness.  Through semantic drift, the word has come to mean much more than that.

（本文作者回复楼上层主）非常感谢你注意到了不同类型怀旧间的区分。不幸的是，我们只有同一个术语“怀旧”来指代那两种情况。不同标签的缺失导致了大量的混淆和困惑，使用着同一个词去指称不同类型怀旧的人们常常就“过往”互相争论。这个语义学问题是很讽刺的，鉴于“怀旧”这个词本身是在1688年被创造出来称呼一种极端状态的乡愁。经过语义流变，这个词已经逐渐地比它能表示更多的意思了。

Michael Harrington
Naturally. A longing for an imagined past is a natural response to change. Under the pressures of rapid change this nostalgia can often lead to reactionary or fundamentalist political, religious, and social movements. History is driven by this ebb and flow of social change. Two steps forward, one step back. Society progresses at an acceptable pace, but human instinctual behavior really doesn’t, so progressives ‘pushing’ the pace are always fighting an uphill battle.

那是自然的。一种对想象中过去的渴望是面对变化的一种自然反应。在飞速变化带来的压力下，这种怀旧常能引发反动或原教旨主义的政治、宗教以及社会运动。历史即是被这些潮起潮落的社会变革推动的。前进两步，后退一步。社会以一种可接受的步调不断进步，但人类的本能行为可不是这样，所以旨在进步而对步调的‘强推’往往会陷于艰苦的斗争。