A Trip Down Memory Lane: Reminiscence Therapy

Published in 1963, Robert Butler’s article titled “Life Review” laid the foundation for reminiscence therapy. Based on Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, which maintains that for the older people, past memories are not a negative experience; in his later years, Butler emphasized the importance of turning one’s past negative emotions into positive ones to attain self-integrity. Although it originally emerged as a psychoanalytic concept, reminiscence therapy has been used as a component of nursing in longterm care institutions for older people. According to the practice standards published by the American Nurses Association in 1994 and 1995, reminiscence therapy entered the field of standard nursing practice. The Nursing Interventions Classification System stated that reminiscence therapy has an independent role as an intervention that has positive effects on the older people. In our country, reminiscence therapy is used as an intervention that nurses can apply independently, and it was defined in the Regulation on the Amendment of the Nursing Regulation dated April 19, 2011, and published in the official gazette. The benefits of reminiscence therapy, which is preferred because it is cost-effective and suitable in terms of time management and can be applied by multidisciplinary professional groups, continue to be revealed with the studies carried out, and its applicability increases gradually due to the lack of harmful results. The aim of the this review to guide nurses and other health professionals about reminiscence therapy.