Chris Hemsworth uses 'reminiscence therapy' to help his dad's Alzheimer's Madeline Mitchell, USA TODAYNovember 24, 2025 at 2:30 AM 0 Chris Hemsworth uses 'reminiscence therapy' to help his dad's Alzheimer's Chris Hemsworth's new documentary, "A Road Trip to Remember," takes viewers on a motorbike adventure around Melbourne and Australia's Northern Territory. His costar and father, 71yearold Craig Hemsworth, is right alongside him through the dirt and rocky terrain, despite living with early stage Alzheimer's disease. Chris Hemsworth has a genetic predisposition to the disease.
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Madeline Mitchell, USA TODAYNovember 24, 2025 at 2:30 AM
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Chris Hemsworth uses 'reminiscence therapy' to help his dad's Alzheimer's
Chris Hemsworth's new documentary, "A Road Trip to Remember," takes viewers on a motorbike adventure around Melbourne and Australia's Northern Territory. His costar and father, 71-year-old Craig Hemsworth, is right alongside him through the dirt and rocky terrain, despite living with early stage Alzheimer's disease. Chris Hemsworth has a genetic predisposition to the disease.
"I feel I've been so busy, I probably haven't spent as much time with my dad as I would want to," Hemsworth says at the start of the film.
"Any chance to spend time with my dad is special, but this road trip back in time was particularly meaningful for us both," Chris Hemsworth wrote on Instagram about his new documentary, "A Road Trip to Remember," which premieres on Nov. 23 on National Geographic.
Along the way, Hemsworth attempts to "supersize" reminiscence therapy for his dad by stopping at his childhood home and meeting up with old friends. USA TODAY spoke with medical professionals familiar with reminiscence therapy to find out more about what it is, how it works and how families can use it with their loved ones who have dementia.
What is reminiscence therapy?
Reminiscence therapy is an intervention that focuses on memories through sensory tools like music, photographs, smells and places, says Dr. Sikandar Khan, associate director of Indiana University's Center for Aging Research at Regenstrief Institute.
In the film, psychologist Suraj Samtani suggests reminiscence therapy as a way to help Hemsworth's father.
Just like physical workouts can build stronger biceps and glutes, brain exercises − and specifically memory exercises prompted by places, sounds and objects from the past − can help boost cognition, Samtani says.
In the film, Hemsworth explains that while Alzheimer's destroys the connections between brain cells and disrupts memory networks, reminiscence therapy builds back those connections through multisensory experiences.
"Seeing, touching and hearing our past can make it easier to remember," Hemsworth says.
It's about recreating a feeling, Khan says. "It jogs one's memory, how one felt at a certain time."
'A step back in time.'
In the documentary, Hemsworth takes reminiscence therapy to another level for his father by staging the Melbourne home they lived in together when Chris Hemsworth was a kid in the 1990s.
Australian actor Chris Hemsworth arrives for the Amazon MGM Studios photocall during CinemaCon 2025 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 2, 2025. (Photo by Michael Tran / AFP) (Photo by MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images)
"It's a step back in time," Craig Hemsworth says as he steps into his old home, set up with identical furnishings, photographs and knickknacks from when he lived there.
"I think my dad got a lot out of today," Hemsworth says in the film. "The experience of coming back to our old house in Melbourne has stimulated nostalgia and triggered memories. It feels like there's been a real benefit."
Most people can't replicate an old home like Hemsworth did. But you don't have to, Samtani says, to get the same effect. Listening to old songs, looking at old photographs or watching family home videos with a loved one who has dementia is reminiscence therapy, Samtani says. "It's quite simple to do."
Hollie Lowe, a counselor and dementia care specialist with the James L. West Center for Dementia Care in Fort Worth, Texas, uses reminiscence therapy daily with her patients.
A dementia patient's brain is slowly dying, Lowe explains. With Alzheimer's, specifically, plaque is growing on the brain. Because those brain cells are dying, they are unlearning things and going back in time. Reminiscence therapy meets them where they are.
"It's going to their world," Lowe says. "We're not trying to bring them to the present, we're going to the past. Because they can't come to the present."
It's unclear yet if reminiscence therapy delays dementia, Khan says, but it certainly promotes a sense of calm and reduces stress and anxiety in dementia patients.
How to use reminiscence therapy
Lowe suggests making memory boxes. Place a few objects that relate to the same topic, like cooking, in a box. With the patient, you can look through the box, smell the spices, hold the whisk and talk about cooking and favorite recipes together.
Use your loved one's life story, Lowe says. "If they played a harmonica, put a harmonica in the box. What kind of toy did they play with (as a child)?"
Developers are beginning to use artificial intelligence to facilitate reminiscence therapy, Khan says. He's starting trials using virtual reality with patients who are at high risk for dementia.
There are also chatbots who can help jog patients' memories. NewDays, a startup, has a clinician-monitored AI tool for dementia patients in Washington, California, Texas and Florida. The AI companion, Sunny, asks patients questions and prompts storytelling and memory exercises through conversation and photographs.
"The goal is not really to substitute human interaction. The goal is to, as much as possible, empower the person to practice and build confidence and have more human interaction," says Babak Parviz, NewDays founder and CEO.
Andrea Pidgeon's 82-year-old mother, Tanna Jean Pidgeon, started using Sunny after she was diagnosed with dementia in July.
"The older she gets, the more of an introvert she becomes," Andrea Pidgeon says. "With Sunny, it's been amazing because it stimulates her and it keeps her going."
Other ways to promote brain health
In the documentary, Samtani also tells Hemsworth that social connection is essential to brain health and can slow cognitive decline.
"Social connections, for us, is like sunshine. Without that sunshine, we whither," Samtani says.
Community engagement is key for those with dementia, Samtani says. He suggests volunteering, joining a singing group or taking a walk with new friends.
Madeline Mitchell's role covering women and the caregiving economy at USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Pivotal and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
Reach Madeline at [email protected] and @maddiemitch_ on X.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chris Hemsworth, a new therapy and the fight against dementia
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