A Taxonomy of Reminiscence and Therapeutic Implications

This paper reviews the literature on the adaptive benefits of reminiscence therapy and concludes that the inconsistent findings are primarily due to failure to specify the different types of reminiscence involved in prior studies. The development of a new taxonomy and the coding procedure are described. The taxonomy classifies six types of reminiscence: integrative, instrumental, transmissive, narrative, escapist, and obsessive. The definition, functions, and illustrative examples of each type of reminiscence are provided. Finally, the paper presents new ways of reminiscence therapy based on this new taxonomy.