Treating Addiction with Aromatherapy

Turning your life around after addiction is hard work, and the early stretch can feel heavier than you expected. What a lot of people in recovery never hear about are the gentler, natural supports that sit alongside whatever else they're doing. Plenty of these you can practice at home, on your own schedule. Aromatherapy is one that keeps coming up among people who have been through it, and researchers have looked at it repeatedly. It may be worth seeing whether it does something for you.

A quick refresher on what the term actually means, since the word gets thrown around loosely. Aromatherapy, sometimes called Essential Oil Therapy, uses therapeutic oils to work on mind, body and spirit at once. Different oils are suited to different problems, and when you're recovering you can lean on several of them to chip away at the things that keep pulling you back. None of this has to stand alone, either; it pairs easily with other holistic practices you might already be trying.

Take lavender. A good deal of addictive behavior traces back to emotions that never quite settle into balance, which piles on stress and feeds other trouble. Lavender used in aromatherapy can steady those emotions and leave you thinking with a clearer head.

Lemongrass oil is another one worth keeping around. People reach for it because it lifts energy, sharpens awareness and brings a kind of mental clarity. Those are exactly the conditions under which you can actually sit with the goal of getting past your addiction and put your attention on recovery instead of the next craving.

Then there's orange oil. Mood is a stubborn obstacle in recovery, and this oil has been shown to lift it. Feeling better than you did an hour ago matters more during this process than it might seem from where you're standing now.

Fennel oil shows up less often and can be trickier to track down, though a number of online sellers carry it. Its draw is confidence. Overcoming an addiction asks for about as much self-belief as a person can muster, so an oil that props that up has a place in the rotation.

Cinnamon oil rounds things out. It has been associated with a lift in happiness and a sense of feeling cleaner or more whole. That last part lands for a lot of people in recovery, who carry around the feeling of being damaged. And more happiness at any stage of life is never a bad trade, which might make this one of the more useful oils on the list.

There are many holistic options when you set out to treat an addiction, and the good news is you aren't forced to pick a single one. Aromatherapy and its range of oils give you real help. Start with whichever ones appeal to you and begin. And as with everything in recovery, give it time.

Cara Gilmore, author of Overcoming Any Addiction: Finding the Inner You

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