Mental health linked to attitude to past events
By Catherine Walker
The attitude that we have to our past can be positive or negative. We can have negative events which we choose to consider in a positive way or we can choose the reverse.
Researchers from the University of Granada (UGR) have conducted new research which suggests that an individual’s attitude or perspective about the past plays a part in how they perceive current and future events. This means that remembering the past in a positive way can help to improve your mental and physical health.
‘We have observed that when people are negative about past events in their life, they also have a pessimistic or fatalistic attitude towards current events,’ said Christian Oyanadel, UGR researcher and co-author of the study.
‘This generates greater problems in their relationships and these people present worse quality of life indicators,’ Oyanadel added.
Fifty individuals were studied by the researchers. Twenty five women and twenty five men aged between 20 and 70 years of age and chosen from a randomised sample. Each participant was given standardised questionnaires as well as time orientation tests. The time orientation profile included five dimensions that described attitudes towards the past, the present and the future.
The participants were then grouped by profiles dependant on their time perspective. Respondents completed a quality of life survey to measure their physical and mental health.
‘According to what we have observed in our study, the most influencing dimension is the perception of the past. A negative view of the past is highly related to worse health indicators,’ Oyanadel noted.
The study found that people who tend towards being negative find it difficult to make a physical effort in their daily activities and have physical limitations for work performance. They perceive more bodily pain and are more likely to become ill.
‘Furthermore, they generally tend to be depressive, anxious and present behavioural changes’ added Oyanadel.
Participants in this study were found to have three time profiles which are, mainly negative, mainly future-oriented and well-balanced. Researchers say that the balanced profile is the ideal one to have because it gives a healthy attitude in the three time zones.
‘They are people that learn positively from past experiences. They are more focused on achieving future goals and demand a lot of themselves, but they do not neglect that they need to have emotions and live pleasant experiences,’ Oyanadel said.
Researchers discovered that among the balanced group, individuals were physically stronger with better general mental health. These individuals were less likely to become ill and reported less discomfort and body pain.
The group that was strongly future-focused, those that put their personal goals before everything, was found to have a diminished appreciation of current pleasure and a poor connection to their positive past experiences.
‘They are not physically or mentally unhealthy but have a lower quality of life than the well-balanced group,’ Oyanadel concluded.
Source: Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology
