Whilst not universally the case, many people who enter a therapy room and seek treatment are trying to manage their past, which could include processing traumatic events, moving on from positive memories that have since ended, or some complex combination of emotions.
Not all therapy is like this of course, and treatment pathways are based around the goals a person in therapy has, but it is a fair statement to say that memories and the past are important to most of us and can shape our mental health going forward.
An interesting example of this as illustrated by the “Roman Empire trend” on social media is the concept of prelapsarian nostalgia, where someone yearns for memories or a historical period that did not really exist, at least not in the way people think about it.
According to Doctor of Psychiatry Alan R Hirsch when exploring nostalgia and its tendency to filter out negativity, the key to understanding the yearning for imagined history is based not on memory or historical accounts but on personal emotional states.
Memories are so powerful because we attach different senses and emotions to each of them, and this power is part of the reason why for a lot of people the past can feel better than the present.
The Roman Empire is often one of the first historical periods children learn about in school, so a lot of what they learn is intermingled with idealised memories of childhood, which whilst not universally associated with positive memories, is often characterised as a simpler time.
Because of this, people who cling to these prelapsarian versions of history tend to discount the exceptionally disturbing parts of historical periods, and the fact that the life expectancy of people was half what it is today due to a lack of medical knowledge and a propensity for violence.
For many, it is much easier to make the past make sense than to live in an often confusing present where it can be difficult to know where you fit in or where one’s life is going, compared to one consigned to the history books.
