Trauma and nostalgia: new aspects on the coping of aging Holocaust survivors.

This paper examines the coping mechanism of aging survivors of the Holocaust with the extreme traumatic stressors they experienced in the past. Differences in the role of memories, reminiscences and nostalgic longings are presented. The potential role of sensory stimuli in the development of reminiscences and nostalgic feelings is emphasized. The comparison of the genesis of reminiscences and nostalgic phenomena may offer additional parameters for the understanding of the symptom formation in the elderly.