How Essential Oils Became the Cure for Our Age of Anxiety

Aromatic oils have become big business. But are they medicine or marketing?

Twenty years ago, Carla Cohen fell mysteriously ill. She couldn’t put her finger on what was wrong; it felt as though some conspiracy between her mind and her body were eroding her capacity to work.


Cohen, who was an entertainment executive in Los Angeles, woke up every morning feeling weak and foggy-brained, with a low-grade fever. Her doctors couldn’t make a diagnosis, and suggested antidepressants. “I said, ‘I’m not depressed!’ They just told me to go home and rest.”

Disillusioned by Western medicine, Cohen began exploring other options. She studied with multiple healers and shamans; she read books with titles like “The Body Toxic” and pursued a massage-therapy license. As part of her training, she took a class on a massage technique called “raindrop therapy,” which incorporates essential oils—aromatic compounds made from plant material.


At the time, essential oils were not well known, but Cohen was drawn to them right away. “From the very first moment with those oils, I noticed something was firing that hadn’t been firing,” she said. “I was deeply moved.”

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/09/how-essential-oils-became-the-cure-for-our-age-of-anxiety

Essential Oils: So Much Hype, So Little Science

The rise of the wellness industrial complex has put things like natural beauty and essential oils in the spotlight for their perceived lack of chemicals.

Though common in skincare and household cleaning products today, essential oils have long been revered for their healing powers and are used for health and medicinal purposes such as alleviating anxiety or curing the common cold.

In fact, a cursory glance at the web results for “essential oils” tells the story of a magical cure-all — one most vehemently told by the multi-level marketing companies that sell them.

But when it comes to the science-backed benefits of essential oils, what’s actually effective? According to experts and research, not much.

Here’s what you should know before you invest:

https://www.manrepeller.com/2018/02/essential-oil-uses.html