The Stranger Things effect: why nostalgia builds connection and improves our mood

As Stranger Things Season 5 takes over our screens, the hit Netflix series cranks up the nostalgia, plunging us deeper into its 1980s setting. It’s a perfect match - the '80s were a golden era for coming-of-age stories that resonate across generations, and the show weaves that tradition seamlessly into its world. But Stranger Things isn’t loved just for its retro look. It resonates because its core themes - friendship, growing up, and facing the unknown - are timeless. The setting may be retro, but the emotions are universal.

Our experts explain how nostalgia affects the brain and its potential as a complementary tool to support your mental health.

How do our brains respond to nostalgia?

Nostalgia is a layered emotion that surfaces when we look back on meaningful memories, usually from childhood or early adulthood, when life felt simpler. It can spark warm, uplifting, and sometimes bittersweet feelings, often tied to relationships, key life moments, or experiences that shape our sense of self and where we feel we belong.

Dr Andrea Geim, psychologist and founder of Mindfully Mine Counseling Center, Tampa, Florida, explains that when we experience nostalgia, our brain’s memory, emotion, and reward systems activate - releasing dopamine and creating feelings of comfort, continuity, and emotional safety.

As Barbara Sparacino, psychiatrist and founder of The Aging Parent Coach, Miami, Florida, says: “It’s not just remembering a fact - it’s re-experiencing a moment that feels important to who we are.

“That’s why a smell, a song, or an old photo can suddenly act like a ‘time machine’ and bring back a memory with strong emotion attached to it.”

Can nostalgia boost our emotional wellbeing?

Most people would agree that drawing on nostalgia’s positive emotions can help support our emotional wellbeing.

Gleim explains that nostalgia can lift our mood by activating positive emotions that naturally counterbalance feelings such as sadness or anxiety.

“It also reduces stress because revisiting moments of stability or comfort signals psychological safety, which helps the body settle,” she says.

She says: “Nostalgic memories reconnect you with times when you felt loved, competent, or part of something bigger.

“That can calm the nervous system, shift your focus from current threats to a longer-term perspective, and help you ride out difficult emotions instead of getting swept away by them.”

Can nostalgia sometimes hurt rather than help?

Nostalgia can be helpful, but it’s not always as straightforward as reliving good memories and feeling better.

Gleim explains that although nostalgia is generally positive, it can become distressing if the past is idealised in a way that makes the present feel lacking, or if a memory is linked to unresolved grief, loss, or trauma.

“When nostalgia is helpful, it tends to lift mood, create a sense of comfort, strengthen self-esteem, and deepen connection to others,” she says. “But when it shifts into unhelpful territory, it can intensify sadness or longing, trigger regret or rumination, and leave someone feeling disconnected from their current life.”

She suggests a simple way to tell whether nostalgia is helping or hurting is to notice how you feel afterwards.

“Helpful nostalgia leaves you feeling a bit more grounded, comforted, or connected, even if you also cried,” says Sparacino. “Unhelpful nostalgia leaves you feeling stuck, ashamed, or convinced that life now is empty or pointless.

“If every trip down memory lane ends with, ‘Everything was better then and everything now is terrible,’ that’s more like rumination or depressive thinking dressed up as nostalgia.”

How does sharing nostalgia bring people together?

Shared nostalgia strengthens social bonds by emphasising experiences we have in common and reinforcing a sense of collective identity.

Gleim explains that when people recognise that others have lived similar moments - whether childhood experiences or cultural events - it activates social belonging and reduces perceived isolation.

As Sparacino succinctly points out: “Shared nostalgia is a shortcut to 'we'.

“When you and someone else get excited about the same cartoon, TV show, album, or school ritual, it’s a way of saying that you grew up in the same emotional universe. This sense of connection reduces loneliness and increases social bonds, which are both powerful protective factors for mental health.”

The role of nostalgia in mental health treatment

According to our experts, many therapists already use nostalgic recall in a structured, healthy way during treatment - even if they don’t explicitly call it nostalgia.

Gleim points to life review therapy as one example, where people reflect on their past to navigate life transitions, make sense of their identity, and find meaning in their experiences.

“In inner-child and schema work, positive early memories can serve as a foundation for emotional healing and strengthening the sense of self. Outside of therapy, people can use nostalgia safely by listening to music tied to positive life periods, looking at photos or keepsakes.”

Sparacino outlines further examples of when nostalgia may be used as part of therapy:

• Exploring times when someone felt supported or capable - and using those memories to build emotional strength today.

• Using music, photos, or familiar rituals to support identity and connection in older adults - especially those with cognitive decline.

• Encouraging caregivers to recall who their loved one was before illness - so the relationship isn’t defined by the diagnosis.

Healthy ways to lift your mood with nostalgia

Using nostalgia in a healthy way means being mindful with it, rather than retreating into the past to escape the present. It involves looking at what a memory can remind us about who we are, and carrying the helpful feelings forward into the moment we’re in now.

Gleim says: “When we revisit the past with curiosity instead of comparison, it becomes a tool for grounding rather than a way to escape. Escapism usually feels avoidant and leaves people more disconnected, while healthy nostalgia reinforces resilience and helps us function more effectively in the present.”

The rise of nostalgia and its impact on mental health

Amid today’s uncertainty, fast pace, and endless digital distractions, nostalgia can provide a comforting space of stability, clarity, and a sense of self, free from present-day stress.

Sparacino believes that, as long as it’s used thoughtfully, nostalgia may increasingly be a self-soothing and community-building tool, such as through reboots, retro aesthetics, throwback playlists, and shared ‘remember when…’ content.

She says: “The key is using it to anchor ourselves, not to avoid real life.”

Gleim says that we tend to reach for nostalgia when we need stability, grounding, or a reminder of who we are.

“Increased global turbulence, fast technological shifts, higher levels of social comparison, rising loneliness, and the constant stream of nostalgic content on social media all contribute to this trend,” she says.

“Looking ahead, nostalgia will likely continue to act as a natural emotional regulator, helping people manage stress, feel more connected, and maintain a sense of continuity in a world that’s moving quickly.”