Storytelling and Reminiscence Therapy

People with memory problems such as dementia or alzheimers benefit greatly from life review activities and processes. The recording of these memories is important for maintaining meaninful connection and communication. This needs to be recorded before its too late- too often, these memories are lost before anyone has written them down. We need to be able to walk in their shoes so that we can understand them and help them now and in the future. The person will make more sense if they are deeply known by everyone around them.

The Mayo Clinic neurology department discovered how valuable the information could be. They adopted reminiscence programming (using LifeBio's Life Story Journal) because they see the importance of helping someone with early-stage Alzheimer's to record memories, but they also found that the process helped them celebrate their life experiences, see their accomplishments, connect with their family caregiver more, and record information that only this person can share. Because reminiscence promotes feelings of happiness and purposefulness, it is also a great activity for Alzheimer's patients.

Comments