Psychology Evaluating the Therapeutic Potential of Scents on Anxiety, Depression, and Relaxation

Publication Date

2025

Presentation Length

15 minutes

College

College of Sciences & Mathematics

Department

Psychological Science, Department of

Student Level

Graduate

SPARK Category

Research

Faculty Advisor

Patrick Morse

WELL Core Type

Intellectual Wellness

SPARK Session

Independent Presentation from Independent Study

Presentation Type

Article

Summary

Weir (2011) discusses the physiological response to essential oils that highlights how smell profoundly influences cognition and emotion. This reinforces the idea that aromatherapy can be an effective non-invasive intervention for mood disorders, aligning with my research objectives to assess the impact of various scents on anxiety and depression symptoms. The purpose of the current project is to investigate the effects of scents used in aromatherapy, specifically orange and lavender, on anxiety, depression, and relaxation among participants. Each participant was assigned to one of three groups that were common belief, research, and the control group. In each condition the participants were either told nothing, what research says the scents do, and what common belief says the effects of the scents are, respectively, before the aromatherapy as they took a survey to check their baseline emotional levels. After the aromatherapy they took the same surveys again for the state of their depression, anxiety, or relaxation levels to see if the aromatherapy alleviated the symptoms it was supposed to. The first hypothesis is that participants that were exposed to the scent of lavender will report significantly higher relaxation and lower depression levels compared to their baseline measurements. The second hypothesis is that participants exposed to the scent of orange will report significantly lower levels of anxiety and depression compared to their baseline measurements. The last hypothesis posits that across the two scents, participants in the ‘scientific literature exposure’ group will experience the greatest change between their pre- and post-scent exposure responses, as compared to the ‘common assumptions’ and control conditions. The Anova for the scent showed a slightly significant change for the depressive symptoms with both scents. The lavender group changed more and is approaching significance which shows that it is showing more change than the orange group in the depressive symptoms. Overall, there was no difference in change scores across the manipulations meaning there was no difference between the control group, common belief, and research group. However, the lack of differences between the groups exposed to different types of information (common belief, research, or control) indicates that prior knowledge or expectations about aromatherapy did not influence the participants' emotional responses. These results could have broader implications for the use of aromatherapy as a complementary treatment for mood disorders, particularly in settings where non-invasive and easily accessible interventions are desired.

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