Aheing is a richly layered experience blending comforting knowledge and challenging change. We look back, assessing our lives, a process that can be uplifting but also upsetting.

Curiously, it can also be filled with surprises.

Just recently, while reassuring a young entrepreneur that economic depressions are temporary, I mentioned the 1997 crisis.

He exclaimed, “Wow! You remember that and you’re still alive!”

I had to laugh but it also highlighted that we have valuable experiences we may not have considered.

Erik Erikson, the famous psychologist who examined human development in terms of life stages, suggested that retirement is a stage characterised by integrity versus despair, as this is where we assess our lives for our personal meaning.

It sparked Life Review (also called Reminiscence Therapy) a therapy process that helps you examine your experiences and life events with a view to integrating your life and boosting a sense of connection.

It’s an existential experience that highlights joys, brings up unresolved issues for healing, and concludes in promoting meaning.

We look at what the science says, and at ways you can harness life review to boost life satisfaction.

What the science says

Existential approaches in mental health are not well defined, which is lovely because it means we can really adapt and connect with clients. However, this flexibility has a drawback: It makes it hard to compare, contrast and analyse how effective it is.

Researchers are typically tempted to force a framework so studies are easier. However, as clients have different goals and personal styles, forcing a framework may impact badly on therapy quality.

We will get back to that further on, but for the science section, I have chosen large-scale studies to help account for the differences caused by varying therapy methods.

In 2024, researchers led by Dr Vincent Jiang at the University of Sydney, Australia analysed 131 studies examining the impact of life reviews on silvers’ life satisfaction and self-esteem, depression and depressive symptoms, institutional care and cognitive decline, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and trauma.

They found mixed benefits: Life Review has little effect on self-esteem but boosts life satisfaction and reduces symptoms of depression and PTSD. Also, as long as the storytelling continues, it may also help prevent cognitive decline.

In 2021, Dr Qing Zhong, Zhejiang University, China led a team that reviewed 32 studies with 2,353 participants to analyse whether life review and reminiscence therapy boosts life satisfaction for the elderly.

Their results showed that the system significantly improves quality of life and life satisfaction. The best results come from individual sessions, preferably six to eight sessions.

The same results were found by Lijun Xu, Huzhou University, China, and her team when they evaluated 27 studies involving 1,755 older adults.

Focusing on depression and life satisfaction impacts, the team concluded that structured sessions significantly reduce depressive symptoms and improve life satisfaction.

However, they noted that individual sessions are beneficial but typically more expensive than group sessions. Analysing results, they found that group sessions have an extra benefit in that they promote new friendships, social support and a sense of belonging.

Harness Life Review benefits

There are lots of ways you can benefit from Life Review. Here are some simple ways to get started.

Trigger Your Memory: We lead rich lives and it’s easy to forget events and even people. Prompt memories by going through your old photos, bringing out your holiday souvenirs, and dust off old records too. Note a list of memory triggers as a basis for your life review.

Chat To Friends: Memory can be tricky in that we sometimes forget details or confuse one event with another. Chatting to a friend or relative can help you enrich your experience retrieval. It also has a second benefit: talking over old times will connect, deepen, or revive a friendship.

Finally, you may want to reach out to old friends, and visit. The 80 year running study on good health at Harvard has shown that friendships and community feeling help us live longer, and boost happiness.

Legacy Project: Museums run oral history projects that capture personal memories. You can create a personal history for your descendants by using the video app on your smartphone.

Although it sounds fancy, oral histories are simple to run. For inspiration, write down personally significant events: A family party, or what you remember about your own grandmother.

Also list headline events you remember: like the Formation of Malaysia in 1963 or the Malaysian football team qualifying for the 1980 Summer Olympics.

Hit record and talk about the events themselves, what you thought back then and your current personal perspective. You can keep them private for family or upload to YouTube and share with the next generation.

Sessions For Healing: Trips down memory lane will bring up past sadness. Maybe you lost a relationship you valued, wondered at decisions that may have changed your life, or acted in a way that distresses you.

For this, a mental health professional can help you. It is rare to find therapists who advertise Life Review work but most of us do the work with clients who are ill or in crisis. Approaches that work well for this kind of session include existentialism and individual psychology.

Above all, life review will help you remember the joys of your story, create a legacy for future generations, and allow you to step into the future with a lighter, happier heart.

Ellen Whyte is a British-registered counsellor and psychotherapist who has a soft spot for cats. She founded an online practice in 2016, and works with clients in 20+ countries. Email ellen.whyte@gmail.com