They are most helpful in revealing what one regards as values to be aimed for and what one senses as dangers to be avoided. They help us to see the kind of world which a particular person feels he is living in, and the early ways he found of meeting that world. They illuminate the origins of the style of life. The basic attitudes which have guided an individual throughout his life and which prevail, likewise, in his present situation, are reflected in those fragments which he has selected to epitomize his feeling about life, and to cherish in his memory as reminders. He has preserved these as his early recollections.
Earliest recollections provide an elegant projective tool for gaining useful therapeutic insight.
When used creatively and diplomatically, they also offer opportunities to promote cognitive, affective, and behavioral change in the middle and later stages of psychotherapy. When eliciting oral recollections, it is important to notice the client's attitude, expression, posture, gestures, and feeling while giving the memory. Written recollections, embedded in a comprehensive questionnaire, may suggest clues from handwriting, spelling, grammar, word choice, and punctuation. Interpreting earliest recollections accurately, requires the context of comprehensive case information. Guesses about the meaning of recollections should be checked carefully against the background of the presenting problem and all available case information.