Life Review

Life Review

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Life Review

Every person has certain memories and unresolved conflicts in their life. Sometimes these memories are pleasant, the other times, not so pleasing. These memories and unresolved conflicts haunt us for the rest of our life and become a cause of mental disturbance, especially in old age. At this stage of life, a person consciously returns to their past life and revisits the memories he or she once created in their life. These memories include both pleasant and unpleasant ones with the addition of unresolved conflicts ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"c4TSnwjS","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Moral et al., 2015)","plainCitation":"(Moral et al., 2015)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":35,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/aDSOzgCJ/items/QSCK57M6"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/aDSOzgCJ/items/QSCK57M6"],"itemData":{"id":35,"type":"article-journal","abstract":"Reminiscence therapy is a psychological intervention for older adults to remembering and interpreting life events that were experienced at some time in the past. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the extent of integrative reminiscence intervention effects, with the aim to produce statistically significant reduction in depression symptoms, and significant improvement in psychological well-being, life satisfaction, self esteem, and integrity were examined. Thirty-four healthy elderly participated in the intervention that was implemented in eight sessions. To evaluate the effects of the program, a quasi-experimental design was applied with pretest and posttest evaluations comparing the intervention group with a control group on a waiting list. In comparison to control group, individuals in treatment sample of older adults in an integrative reminiscence group demonstrated statistically significant reduction in depression symptoms and a significant improvement in self-esteem, integrity, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being.","container-title":"The Journal of Positive Psychology","DOI":"10.1080/17439760.2014.936968","ISSN":"1743-9760","issue":"3","page":"240-247","source":"Taylor and Francis+NEJM","title":"Effect of integrative reminiscence therapy on depression, well-being, integrity, self-esteem, and life satisfaction in older adults","volume":"10","author":[{"family":"Moral","given":"Juan C. Meléndez"},{"family":"Terrero","given":"Flor B. Fortuna"},{"family":"Galán","given":"Alicia Sales"},{"family":"Rodríguez","given":"Teresa Mayordomo"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015",5,4]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Moral et al., 2015). This is a natural process and happens for the purpose of reevaluation and resolution. It has also been given a specific name “Life Review”.

The process of life review is universal and takes place in almost every individual, usually in the final years of their life, irrespective of gender, nationality, religion, caste, color, creed, financial status or academic background. Sometimes the person experiencing it is not completely aware of it and tends to defend themselves against its presence but it is there.

The concept of life review helps a lot in shaping up the perceptions and understanding of various things in life. There exists a treatment or therapy in the area of healthcare and nursing known as “Life Review Therapy”. The treatment, devised by well-known psychiatrist Dr. Robert Butler, has been in practice for a long time, has proven to be extremely beneficial for patients, especially in the case of relatively older patients and near-to-death individuals (Serrano, Latorre, Gatz, & Montanes, 2004). It helps them relax and come to peace with their past experiences and issues.

The process of life review may sound similar to ordinary remembering or reminiscence, but both of them are very different. Many people, even the experts and therapists, confuse both these terms and use them interchangeably but there lies a huge difference between both of them. Reminiscence is a process that is more informal and spontaneous, it can take place with any person without the limitation of time and place. It happens mostly for remembering the happy phases of one’s life ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"dCsrqSRf","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Haber, 2006)","plainCitation":"(Haber, 2006)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":33,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/aDSOzgCJ/items/CVW5ER9F"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/aDSOzgCJ/items/CVW5ER9F"],"itemData":{"id":33,"type":"article-journal","abstract":"A selective literature review of publications on life review generated ideas on implementation, theory, research, and therapy. The review begins by differentiating life review from reminiscence, and summarizing ways to conduct a life review. A dozen theories that have been influenced by the life review technique are presented, with a focus placed on Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development. Erikson's theory has not only been influenced by the life review, it has had a major impact on life review research. Three research topics are discussed: Erikson's ego integrity versus despair in old age, demographical differences in the practice of life reviews, and the impact of conducting life reviews on staff in institutional settings. Most practitioners of life reviews are institutional staff, university students, and family members, many of whom have had limited prior training. The prospect of a certified life review training program is discussed.","container-title":"The International Journal of Aging and Human Development","DOI":"10.2190/DA9G-RHK5-N9JP-T6CC","ISSN":"0091-4150","issue":"2","journalAbbreviation":"Int J Aging Hum Dev","language":"en","page":"153-171","source":"SAGE Journals","title":"Life Review: Implementation, Theory, Research, and Therapy","title-short":"Life Review","volume":"63","author":[{"family":"Haber","given":"David"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2006",9,1]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Haber, 2006). One the other hand, Life Review is more of a formal and structured process. It is much more comprehensive in nature than simple reminiscence and involves remembrance from the very early stages of life, i.e., childhood till the old age (or the current age).

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Haber, D. (2006). Life Review: Implementation, Theory, Research, and Therapy. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 63(2), 153–171. https://doi.org/10.2190/DA9G-RHK5-N9JP-T6CC

Moral, J. C. M., Terrero, F. B. F., Galán, A. S., & Rodríguez, T. M. (2015). Effect of integrative reminiscence therapy on depression, well-being, integrity, self-esteem, and life satisfaction in older adults. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 10(3), 240–247. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2014.936968

Serrano, J. P., Latorre, J. M., Gatz, M., & Montanes, J. (2004). Life review therapy using autobiographical retrieval practice for older adults with depressive symptomatology. Psychology and aging, 19(2), 272.