Effectiveness of follow‐up reminiscence therapy on autobiographical memory in pathological ageing

The objective is to examine the effects of reminiscence therapy ( RT ) on total, episodic and semantic autobiographical memory in amnestic mild cognitive impairment ( aMCI ) and Alzheimer's disease ( AD ) groups, testing the effects of RT on different stages of autobiographical memory, and its effectiveness at follow‐up. A sample composed of 43 aMCI (27 treatments, 16 controls) and 30 AD (15 treatments, 15 controls) subjects were evaluated with the Autobiographical Memory Interview ( AMI ) test. The RT consisted of 10 sessions lasting 60 minutes each. Both groups, aMCI and AD , showed significant effects on overall autobiographical memory; aMCI showed significant main effects on episodic and semantic autobiographical memory in the treatment group, increasing scores in both cases. For AD , significant effects were observed on autobiographical episodic memory, showing an increase in the treatment group from Time 1 to follow‐up; semantic memory showed a decrease in the control group from Time 1 to follow‐up. Results show that RT implementation and follow‐up are effective in increasing autobiographical memory in subjects with aMCI and AD .