Sweeten Family in about 1956
It is a great time to remember and be thankful.
Reminiscing
fights loneliness and depression in older adults: research
This is part of
a regular series on aging well.
Next time grandpa goes on about his winning goal in
minor league hockey back in 1956, do your best to nod and smile, even if you’ve
heard the story a million times.
The
benefits of polishing an old chestnut are so well documented that psychologists
have come up with various forms of “reminiscence therapy.” Delivered in groups
or one-on-one, the approach encourages older adults to talk about significant
events in their past – winning a science prize, the birth of a grandchild –
with a focus on reflection, not just recall.
Australian gerontologist Lynne Parkinson looked at
reminiscence therapy as part of a 2016 review of interventions to improve
psychological well-being in nursing-home residents.
In the review, published in June in the journal
Quality of Life Research, Parkinson and colleagues found that reminiscence
therapy was more effective than conventional social activities, indoor
gardening, listening to the radio or playing Nintendo Wii games at helping to
lift feelings of isolation and depression in older adults.
While each activity showed some benefit,
“reminiscence therapy is the only one that came up to tell us that you can
actually do something about both social isolation and depression,” Parkinson
said.
Combined, feelings of loneliness and depression
double the mortality risk in older adults, Parkinson and her co-authors wrote.
But their findings about reminiscence therapy and
other interventions in the review are not conclusive, she noted, in part
because of the lack of high-quality research in this area. In the paper, the
best evidence to support reminiscence therapy consisted of a Taiwanese study in
which 45 men in a long-term care facility (none with dementia) received eight sessions
of group reminiscence therapy over two months.
Exercises in the therapy sessions included sharing
memories, expressing feelings about life events, recalling family history,
gaining awareness of personal accomplishments and talking about how to apply
positive aspects of past relationships to present relationships.
Compared with 47 residents assigned to a wait list
for the therapy, men in the reminiscence group showed improvements in
depression and loneliness, and reported an increased sense of accomplishment
and meaning in life.
While men in the group sessions had more
opportunities for social interaction, increased contact with others may not
explain their improved well-being, Parkinson said. Contrary to what many people
think, adults in long-term care facilities interact with people all the time,
including nurses, staff and other residents, she pointed out.
“They’re not isolated in terms of contact with
people,” she explained, “but they are isolated in terms of that richness of
human interaction.”
Reminiscing with others, whether casually or in
group sessions, may spark the kind of meaningful conversations that older
people crave.
Too often, Parkinson said, family members stop
visiting grandparents in nursing homes “because they want to remember them the
way they were.” Parkinson urges people to fight that instinct and make an
effort to ask older adults about their lives.
“The best thing we can do is to go in and talk to
them,” she said. “They love it, and they will talk to you.”
