05/30/2020
I find it interesting that people will say, "Is this peer reviewed", when speaking about aromatherapy. Yet, they won't take the time to research themselves.
There are "pieces" of information on the internet that people grab and repeat - little snippets that don't educate fully as there are so many variables. Aromatherapy is a life journey of learning - at least for me. Are there peer-reviewed articles - Yes, most definitely! I'll give you some titles of books that site peer-reviewed articles in a minute. Does aromatherapy or other therapies have to be peer-reviewed in order for them to be accepted as valid?? No, not when it comes to Aromatherapy. Why? Aromatherapy is plant based - the chemical component of the plant varies for each "growing" season, location, distillation process. It varies by the person who uses the therapy. We have a saying...."Normally an essential oils works "this way" but there are ALWAYS exceptions to that rule. Aromatherapy cannot be lumped into the "double blind, placebo controlled, 10 yrs long scientific experiment". Where is the funding for that and can "they" patent it? No. We would love to have that scientific evidence which Franklin School Institute is always looking for funding to do this. What does the "science" really mean? It can help us understand some of the more complex mechanisms in which oils can be used to help support the body, but science is not equipped to explain the interactions with the whole mind, body, soul, human life experience that aromatherapy has on each person as an individual. So, what do we have - what do we know? A study in history is helpful. Start with the Bible, then continue through history. Essential Oils have been used for thousands of years. In the 10th century the Arabs were extracting essential oils from aromatic plants and using them medicinally. We have "studies", "abstracts", a "statistical validation" of 1000's of people's experiences. What is "statistical validation"? Glad you asked. "In statistics, model validation is the task of confirming that the outputs of a statistical model are acceptable with respect to the real data-generating process. In other words, model validation is the task of confirming that the outputs of a statistical model have enough fidelity to the outputs of the data-generating process that the objectives of the investigation can be achieved." Some small books that will help you dive into the world of aromatherapy if you are interested in the science..."Current Essential Oil Clinical Research" by Shawn Peterson PhD and Tonya Peterson Phd. Volume 2 is easier to read than volume 1. "Medical Aromatherapy" by Kurt Schnaubelt is more science based. Start there, if you need more resources, let me know.
www.plantaromatherapy.com
