Reminiscence Therapy for Enhancing Mental Health in Older Adults
Summary
Reminiscence therapy is a structured intervention that encourages older adults to recall, organise and share personal life events, using prompts such as photographs, music or personal artefacts. Grounded in theories of life review and self-continuity, such approaches have been shown to bolster mood, self-esteem and social engagement, while attenuating symptoms of depression and anxiety. Both individual and group formats can be employed, ranging from simple reminiscence—focused on the recollection of positive experiences—to integrative life review, which seeks to resolve past conflicts and promote meaning. Digital adaptations and technologies, including multimedia applications and artificial-intelligence-supported platforms, have expanded access and personalised the experience, helping to surmount barriers of physical mobility or cognitive decline. Across cultural contexts and care settings—from community centres to nursing homes—reminiscence therapy has demonstrated versatility, addressing the needs of cognitively intact individuals, those with mild cognitive impairment and people living with dementia. By reinforcing narrative identity and facilitating social bonds, reminiscence interventions contribute to healthy ageing and non-pharmacological mental health promotion, with growing interest in cost-effectiveness and scalable delivery models.
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Reminiscence Therapy for Enhancing Mental Health in Older Adults publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in reminiscence therapy for enhancing mental health in older adults across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Reminiscence therapy: A psychosocial intervention that uses prompts to stimulate recollection of personal past experiences in order to enhance emotional well-being and self-identity.
Autobiographical memory: The system of long-term memory responsible for storing and retrieving personal life events and experiences.
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI): A clinical condition characterised by measurable cognitive decline greater than expected for age, yet insufficient to meet criteria for dementia.
Meta-analysis: A quantitative statistical technique that aggregates results from multiple independent studies to derive overall effect estimates.
References
- Cross-cultural effects of reminiscence therapy on life satisfaction and autobiographical memory of older adults: a pilot study across Mexico and Spain. Alzheimer's Research & Therapy (2023).
- Promoting Personalized Reminiscence Among Cognitively Intact Older Adults Through an AI-Driven Interactive Multimodal Photo Album: Development and Usability Study. JMIR Aging (2024).
- Effects of reminiscence therapy on quality of life and life satisfaction of the elderly in the community: a systematic review. BMC Geriatrics (2023).
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