“It increases your ability to self-soothe during a stressful time,” Dr. Transitional objects, much like a small child’s baby blanket or a toddler’s favorite stuffed animal, can help people transitioning from one stage of life to the next, or help them navigate specific stressors. “And while it has the danger of creating this longing for the before, when things were maybe safer, and when we were unaware of all of this and protected by our naïveté, there’s also something about nostalgic behaviors - fashion, clothes, movies, music - that serve as a transitional object.” It divides our timeline into a before and an after,” Dr.
But in times of trauma and overwhelming stress, it’s a natural instinct to feel nostalgic and rely on those feelings for comfort and a sense of normalcy, said Valentina Stoycheva, a clinical psychologist specializing in traumatic stress and the author of “ The Unconscious: Theory, Research, and Clinical Implications.”
Things just seemed easier in the Before Times, when we weren’t sheltering in place, losing our jobs or potentially exposing ourselves to a virus that has killed over 140,000 Americans. Even things in recent history that I thought were awful only a few months ago - failing to avoid “Avengers: Endgame” spoilers, or the White Claw seltzer shortage - now pale in comparison to the ongoing trauma of … all of this. For some reason, I pine for the days when I would call a friend on her landline and get a busy signal, or inexplicably hid behind my precarious swivel chair the moment my crush logged on to AIM, the AOL messaging service. Ever since the coronavirus lockdown began, I’ve been longing for my past.
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