Psychotherapy through smell

• April 29, 2024

The sensory system puts you in contact with the environment that surrounds you, is formed by the skin , muscles , joints and the taste receptors, smell , eyes and ears. The information is received by the peripheral receivers before being sent to the Central nervous system (CNS) for your evaluation. This evaluation eliminates by selective inhibition those strange contents and concentrates on the important stimuli.

The stimulation in these specific cortical areas corresponds to the interpretation as vision, taste, hearing, smell , touch and position in space. Although the perception is carried in the cortex is ignored how it happens but there are people who are more sensitive than others to different stimuli.

The meaning of smell in man it is not so developed. However, there are 4 primary scents as possible pheromones what are the sweat , spermatic, fish and urinary all produced by man.

The smells they arrive until hypothalamus and to limbic system , so the meaning of smell and the emotional behavior They are very closely related, as is food.

For the psychotherapy the management of the senses is important, since through them you can manage the emotions and forgotten memories. Creating a cozy and relaxing environment can be carried out by means of soothing aromas such as lavender (smell) and a warm light (sight).

Within the management with the patient if this has blocked an experience you can try to recreate the environment to evoke the event, this is a pleasant smell like chocolate can remind you of your childhood or an unpleasant smell like that of medicine experiencing painful or death memories.

If this does not work it can be with the eyes covered (the sense of smell is amplified), it may be easier to invoke an odor, to talk about it, to remember it and from there, to observe its reactions, postures, gestures and everything what it transmits to us with its non-verbal language. This can be the starting point for the therapy to follow. Here you can also involve other senses to support the memory.