Meghan's What to Believe Essay
Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy
(HDYK paper)
M. McGowan
Do people remember being children and whose mother gave them chamomile tea? Or perhaps taking a bath with lavender bubbles and feeling relaxed? These are just a few examples of the way aromatherapy and different types of healing practices are used in everyday life. Do alternative healing practices, specifically aromatherapy, influence healing? Aromatherapy is a fascinating topic that many incorporate into their healing professions. Aromatherapy is a form of alternative medicine that has been around so long that it traces back to way before history was documented. Aromatherapy soothes the senses via the inhalation and bodily absorption of essential oils causing the body to relax, rejuvenate, balance, heal or promote the body, mind and spirit. Aromatherapy scents are gathered from all types of plants. Flower buds, seeds, leaves, bark stems, roots, and berries/nuts can all be used to make infusions. These ingredients are also mixed into other things to make perfumes, incense or other types of medicine. It's surprising to find how tightly aromatherapy is interwoven in everyday lives. How did people cope without it? There are two sides to every debate. Those who believe something is true and have 'information' to prove it feel satisfied, and those who don't believe the information and pass it off as “a load of rubbish” or unethical.
There is a lot of evidence supporting aromatherapy. First of all, the sense of smell is one of the most, if not the most, powerful sense that connects and influences the human brain. Because of this, different smells can influence moods and feelings, thus creating the desired affect. Instead of being like traditional medicine and only treating the disease or symptoms, aromatherapy is designed to affect the whole person. It also provides power to the patients to decide what they would like to work on and the different beliefs can be honored and respected. It is very helpful in that it works with the whole body instead of just segments. Many people don't believe aromatherapy is practical or useful. Aromatherapy and its benefits have not yet been scientifically proven. Many doctors and scientists dismiss aromatherapy as being a hoax to get money or trick people. Former editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) George D. Lundberg states, "There is no alternative medicine. There is only scientifically proven, evidence-based medicine supported by solid data or unproven medicine, for which scientific evidence is lacking."
One of the biggest complaints is that the essential oils were originally created only for perfumes and fragrance rather then health. The only oils that have ever been said to have health benefits and truly work are the ones that are taken orally. The other major complaint is that aromatherapy and other forms of alternative medicine are used instead of conventional medicine and treatments. Since alternative medicine has no scientific base, using it in place of conventional medicine may be dangerous or downright silly because there is no guarantee it will help you in the slightest. Also, it has a reputation for being a placebo. Placebos are how the medical science community describes alternative medicine. It is a name for medicine that is not scientifically proven and has more to do with willing or having faith something will work then actually having proof. It can vary from essential oils and aromatherapy, to pills depending on what you are looking for. It is also dubbed as an illusion, for when people use different things their conditions are somewhat altered or helped in a way.
Despite the research, I think aromatherapy works, even though it has not been scientifically proven. Personal experience has shown me that using essential oils for massage or to relax is highly affective. The sense of smell is connected to your brain and depending on the type it is has great potential to affect different elements. Tea and smelling aromatherapies are used when people are sick, sad, tired or need to rejuvenate and they all seem to work, even if it is a placebo. Every body and mind is different. Certain things affect the human brain differently but scents are one thing that the affect is the same on everyone, though whether is it medical, mental, a combination of both is yet to be determined.
People mostly decide what to believe relying on other peoples proven facts or opinions. If there is background on a subject that is trusted and proven most people think that it is believable and worth thinking about. Personally though with everyone's individuality I think that there are many ways people decide what to believe. Some go by proven fact and others beliefs, while some take different routes. People may believe in things by personal experience, or maybe they think that like in Peter Pan, if you believe something is real, it will be!This has to do with what individuals want and the way the human mind works. Perhaps humans are not meant to all be the same, and neither are our beliefs.
Sources
Barson, Andy. “The Case Against”Amateur Aromatherapy. http://www.andybarson.co.uk/Aroma/against.htm (September 20, 2007)
National Association For Holistic Aromatherapy. “What is Aromatherapy?” NAHA website. http://www.naha.org/what_is_aromatherapy.htm. (Sept. 20, 2007)
Wikipedia. “Aromatherapy.” Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aromatherapy (Sept. 20, 2007)
Rose, Jeanne. The Aromatherapy Book. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1992.