Reminiscence Therapy - History of Reminiscence

History of Reminiscence

Before the late 1950s reminiscence was seen as a negative symptom which often lead to mental deterioration. Erik Erikson introduced his concept of the eight stages of psychosocial development which involved the progression of one’s life and development from birth until death. The last stage known as late adulthood, brought up the idea of integrity vs. despair. At this stage it becomes important for one to look back on one’s life with satisfaction before they die. In 1963, Dr. Robert Butler published a paper on the critical points surrounding the importance of life review and reminiscence. Butler is credited with starting the movement of reminiscence therapy. The next advancement in this area was done by Charles Lewis in 1971. Lewis was able to create the first experimental study of reminiscence. Lewis wanted to look at any cognitive changes that may occur from reminiscence as well as how people perceive themselves. This experiment proved to be worthwhile as in the following years this area became very popular to research. In the following years, research on reminiscence was focused on the functions and benefits of reminiscence. In 1978 The Department of Health and Social Security started a project called “The Reminiscence Aids Project”. This project was done in order to start reminiscence as a therapy process. Finally in the 1980s, reminiscence therapy was recognized by institutions and has begun to be used as group therapy. During this time period, there was an increase in the amount of professionals trained in this therapeutic process. Reminiscence therapy has continued to be an area of research to this day. While there have been many studies done on reminiscence therapy lately, Butler and Erikson remain the two researchers most associated with this field of work.