In its mild form, the life review is reflected in increased reminiscence, mild nostalgia, mild regret; in severe form, in anxiety, guilt, despair, and depression. In the extreme, it may involve the obsessive preoccupation of the older person with his past, and may proceed to a state approximating terror and result in suicide. Thus, although I consider it to be a universal and normative process, its varied manifestations and outcomes may include psychopathological ones.The life review may be first observed in stray and seemingly insignificant thoughts about oneself and one’s life history.
従って、回想は普遍的かつ規範的な過程であるが、その様々な表出の仕方は精神病理学的な側面も持つ。
回想は、人がふと目を離したときや、その人の人生においてさして重要ではないと思われることを考えた時に初めて観察されるだろう。