Life review was developed to assist older adults to think back over their lives in a therapeutic way to improve their mental health, wellbeing, and quality of life. However, an important part of midlife is to review one’s past to prepare for one’s future. A life review in midlife might assist with this. The aims of this integrative review were to identify 1) the extent to which life review and life review therapy in midlife adults have been researched, and 2) the benefits and limitations of these interventions for midlife adults. The following databases were searched: CINAHL, Medline, PsychInfo, Embase, Scopus, Google Scholar and Trove. Forty-four articles were included in the results, and three themes were developed. Theme 1, End of Life in Midlife was a topic explored in 23 papers. Theme 2, Mental Illness and Substance Abuse, was identified in 20 papers: nine addressed mental illness, one described the application of life review to substance abuse, and 10 overlapped with Theme 1 on mental illness and end-of-life. Theme 3, Personal Growth was the primary topic of 11 papers. Life review can assist with reducing anxiety, depression, and other mental illnesses. Results from these studies showed how life review potentially reduces psychological distress and despair, addresses unsolved conflicts and regrets, and puts guilt into perspective. It potentially improves psychological wellbeing, creates hope, aids in personal growth, creates wisdom, and assists in the gaining of valuable insights through the lessons learnt. The psychological and psychospiritual wellbeing benefits of life review in midlife adults therefore are strongly supported in the literature. In essence, life review assists in creating a life with meaning and purpose, resolves regrets, and results in increased psychological wellbeing, life mastery and, ultimately, wisdom.
Lea et al. (Sun,) studied this question.