Photo by LearningWithMom.org

For every essential oil fanatic, there is someone who simply does not buy into the hype of the essential oil movement and argues that essential oils are, other than their yummy fragrant qualities, altogether ineffective. Two years ago, the Los Angeles Times wrote an article about this essential oil placebo controversy and highlighted the fact that there always seems to be new studies coming out that contradict each other–some argue that bergamot oil is useful in quelling tummy troubles; others argue that it is all just one big case of the placebo effect that all of the hipsters and soccer moms have bought into again.

Photo by GreatLiteracyProject.org

From the research that I have done, it seems to me like scientists simply just do not know whether essential oils are actually proven to definitively provide benefit to their users–it all very well may be a placebo effect. According to a study done by the University of Minnesota, this is partly because essential oil studies are difficult to conduct blindly due to the aromatic qualities of the essential oils. Often times, it is difficult to give a control group subject a placebo essential oil to use without them smelling it–or without them not noticing the lack of a scent. This makes conducting valid research studies very difficult because there is truly no way to have a control group that is comparable with the experimental group that the effects are supposed to take place in. And not being able to conduct studies means that getting unambiguous results is something that we really just should not have any hope for.

Although there is no hard and fast proof that the effects of essential oils are not a result of the placebo effect, there are definitive benefits to their use–even if it is all just in our heads, at least it is working. Bergamot oil may just be something that smells vaguely like spicy citrus, but it sure does help me when I rub it on my stomach when I am having stomach aches. So although there is, at this point in time, no proof of a non-placebo effect, I will continue to use my essential oils, and I suggest that you do the same, because–even if it is just some crazy mental abstraction–the mental abstraction leads to real physical effects.

For the last time in 2018,

Over and Out.

-Courtney