Life Review Among Senior Citizens as a Product of Drama

A theatre performance with a script containing issues and dilemmas confronted in the senior citizen years was the catalyst to study life‐review reminiscing. Structured interviews with 13 volunteers in attendance at the play yielded the content of reminiscing and some indication of the potency of drama as a means for facilitating it. The literature contains definitions of life review and an emerging consensus that it occurs throughout adult development. Participants reflected that the play did relate to their lives in meaningful ways. They were not in agreement that they all reminisced, yet questions about their present lives often yielded comparisons with the past and reflections on the significance of past decisions and behaviors. All three types of reminiscing—informative, evaluative, and obsessive—were exhibited. Regrets, conflicts, and accomplishments constituted the substance of these reflections. Most seemed to have adjusted well to past traumatic events. Some participants ascribed significance to reminiscing as a means for understanding the past and achieving integration in their lives.