What is Reminiscence?

There is much more to older people then just what you see in the present. No one‚ not even the apparently most ordinary person‚ reaches late life without a tremendous variety of good and bad‚ constructive and destructive‚ positive and negative‚ rewarding and unrewarding experiences behind them.

Everyone has lived an intricate‚ interwoven series of lives. For example‚ as children‚ adolescents‚ students‚ lovers‚ partners‚ spouses‚ parents‚ workers‚ immigrants‚ grandparents‚ widows or widowers. If you are to begin to understand why someone is as they are now‚ in late life‚ you have to know something about what has gone before and what meaning the older person attaches to their life experiences. You need to learn to listen to their stories‚ to what they say‚ and to the spaces in between their words.

Text taken from Reminiscence and Recall – A guide to good practice by Faith Gibson

Quotes

• Reminiscence is a fruitful way of learning about such experience and its personal meaning.
• ‘Reminiscence is the act or process of recalling the past’ (butler 1963).
• ‘The process or practice of thinking or talking about past experience’ (Romaniuk & Romaniuk 1981).
• Reminiscence‚ an ordinary everyday activity‚ has come to be valued and to be used for educational‚ recreational‚ social and therapeutic purposes.
• Reminiscence is usually cumulative‚ which means that one memory leads on to another. One person’s shared recollections usually spark off associated recollections in others. This in turn stimulates further memories which lead to further modification or expansion of the stories being recounted.
• In the telling and retelling‚ the details of a memory alters somewhat. Both the context and interaction between the teller and the listener influences the story. It does not matter if the details change. Think of it more as a picture being painted and repainted in changing light. While the major characteristics or core remain recognisable‚ the details alter‚ reflecting differences of emphasis‚ mood‚ memory and interpretation. Our recollections will always be coloured by such personal interpretation because‚ as Pear (1992) suggested‚ ‘The mind never photographs. It paints pictures’.
• Reminiscence and recall indicate mental health‚ not mental ill health.
• Some aspects of reminiscence resemble oral history.
• Reminiscence is more concerned with inter-personal processes rather then with achieving factually accurate history or tangible products.
• Reminiscence may be undertaken with individuals‚ pairs‚ or small groups.
• Memories have many facets‚ which may alter in the telling.
• Reminiscence makes a connection between a person’s past‚ present and future.
• Reminiscence encourages sociability and opens up new relationships.
• Reminiscence confirms a sense of unique identity and encourages feelings of sense worth.
• Reminiscence assists the process of life review.
• Reminiscence changes the nature of relationships.
• Reminiscence alters others’ perceptions and understanding.
• Reminiscence aids assessment of present functioning and informs care plans.
• Reminiscence reverses the gift relationship.
• Reminiscence preserves and transmits the cultural heritage
• Most people ‘enjoy’ reminiscence.