The Therapeutic Purposes of Reminiscence

Portraits of People With Dementia

“…Regardless of how it is implemented, Bender, et al, 1999 showed that reminiscence can have positive effects for the person with dementia and the care staff.…”

“…It can be carried out as a group activity with objects, photography or music to stimulate discussions about past events, traditions or places within the group. It can also involve life review stimulation and oral history (Bender et al 1999, Davis et al 2010). …”

Time to be wise: temporal perspective and wisdom

“…Any sense modality (the touch of a hand, the sight of a sailboat, the sound of a train whistle, the smell of popcorn) has this potential. Practitioners of reminiscence interventions with older adults have implicitly taken advantage of certain prompts to memory in order to stimulate recall; some of the more common and effective triggers in this context have now been identified (e.g., Bender, Bauckham, & Norris, 1999;Burnside, 1995;Gibson, 2004). In addition, internal processes (e.g., fleeting images, emotions, daydreams) can also engender specific autobiographical recall.…”

“…However the distinction between the three types of reminiscence interventions guides practitioners on a global level with the development of a specific intervention. For example, life-review therapy as a form of treatment of depression may require quite a different protocol than life-review as a form of prevention that assists people to cope with a transition in their lives (e.g., Bender, Bauckham, & Norris, 1999). Recently, several excellent treatises (e.g., Gibson, 2004;Haight & Haight, 2007;Kunz & Soltys, 2007) have examined the above issues and provided detailed plans for conducting different types of therapeutic interventions, including preparation, execution, and evaluation of implemented programs.…”

The anatomy of nostalgia: from pathology to normality

“…The meaning of events remembered from the past reveals the attitude toward the future (May, 1958). Some therapists use memories to conduct reminiscence therapy sessions in which they assess and process remembrances of happy as well as traumatic events with the alienated elderly population (Bender et al, 1999). It involves the reevaluation of the past and a reconstructed view of life that bridges intergenerational communication, preserves self-worth and community feeling, and provides coping strategies for survival.…”