Aromatherapy

As goofy as it might seem, Idunno, aromatherapy has probably been the most useful thing I've ever used when it comes to trying to deal with anxiety and agitation.

Years ago I had a very stressful office job combined with dysphoric mania symptoms, and I had a few candles in my bottom desk drawer. Sometimes when nobody was around I would just put my face in one of the candle jars and just deeply breathe for like five minutes.

I still use this sort of thing to this day, whether it is putting my face in candles, putting my face in cloth sprayed with perfume, or putting my face in my hands after using a scented lotion. Just breathing in a fragrance that I find very pleasant and just focusing on that breathing and the fragrance. It's like my own version of quick meditation or mind-clearing and calming.

Of course during the worst parts of my worst episodes, it doesn't do much in a pinch. But just generally trying to make my environments smell nice (to me) makes a surprising difference as far as trying to keep my mood steady. And during the not-worst moments that are still pretty bad, it's kind of amazing to me how soothing a good smell can be if I just focus on breathing it in.

This is compared to various mental exercises, as well as a slew of other coping techniques I've been advised to try over the years. I've actually never had a mental health professional suggest aromatherapy techniques, which makes me wonder if this is just a weird me-thing or if it should be suggested more often.

I tend to go for earthy stuff, like
- Patchouli
- Sandalwood
- Rosemary
- Lavender
- Mint
- Lily Of The Valley
- Hyacinth
- Pine
(Basically anything that smells like wood or dirt, foresty, with a touch of herb or floral, tends to do the trick for me.)
Those all tend to be very relaxing.

Then citrus, maybe combined with mint or pine, tends to help me feel a little more 'uplifted' during a bad depression day.

I mean don't get me wrong here, candles don't just cure my bipolar issues. If that was all it took, I would have gotten my life together many years ago. But it does seem to help take an edge off sometimes.

Any of you use aromatherapy to help with your moods at all?
What are your fragrances of choice?

I have a candle wax melter I use, it's not silly at all. I haven't tried many scents but lavender is nice and vanilla is too. I also enjoy pine scented things as it reminds me of camping. Scents can be very relaxing

I love aromatherapy. I didn't even consciously think of it as "aromatherapy" until I described my technique to a psychiatrist and she was like "Oh! Great, you know about aromatherapy?"

Apparently I do. And it works great for relaxation and meditation. I use scented candles, cotton / vanilla are my favorites.

Lavender is my favorite. Then like cotton/linen.....and citrus-y

I like lavender and peppermint for calming. citrus for waking. and I wear frankincense and myrrh as perfume. it helps me calm. lemongrass is good as bug spray and I love how it smells too!

I was CRAVING pink grapefruit scent during the manic part of this episode. I had handsoap in that scent and started constantly washing my hands so I could smell them. Then I bought body wash and an essential oil diffuser and the essential oil and for a while I was using the diffuser at least 6 hours per day because the scent was calming when almost nothing else was. I've never reacted that way to a scent before but whatever works.

Aromatherapy is fabulous. I love it.

For anxiety (especially panic attacks): Lavender and Lemon

For Depression: Lime and Peppermint

I'm still working on what I can use for my manic episodes.

I'm not into it but I just bought some vapor machine or those aromatherapy liquids for my wife. Not the candles. That stuff isn't cheap

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Seems at least we BP folk smell pretty darn nice.

At least when we're not too depressed to shower on the regular.