Aromatherapy uses Aromatic Matter (Essential Oils; Essences; Hydrolates) with the aim of effectively intervening in treatment or prevention in the treatment of a wide spectrum of physical, psychosomatic or emotional diseases and discomforts.
It is a therapeutic tool that has nothing to do with a sort of “empirical remedy” born from the imagination of improvised “curators”, and which has at its base the same disciplines that underlie classical therapy: chemistry, physiology, physics, microbiology, anatomy, pathology, pharmacology.
Its main feature is that it can be analyzed and classified: it is the molecules contained in it that determine its therapeutic properties, toxicity, any contraindications and at the same time account for its extreme versatility.
Following the analysis of the distillates, the producer laboratory is then able to identify the chemotype: the “characterizing molecule”, the one that unquestionably defines its properties, dosages, toxicity and contraindications.
For this reason, Aromatherapy must be interpreted as allopathy, even if of natural origin, and its administration, in addition to topical or inhalation use, also includes the oral route to be carried out always under the careful supervision of a specialized therapist and possibly, always in the therapist’s opinion, integrated with academic medicine but in any case always in compliance with its canons and protocols, as required by the regulatory policy agreed by the European Commission in Brussels.
The extraordinary power of topical penetration of the Aromatic Matter, due to its characteristics of high lipophilicity, also makes it a valuable tool in terms of external application even if it should be noted that in the case of Aromatic Matter the borderline between external use is really thin. and internal since, when applied topically it easily reaches the microcirculation and with it the whole organism, moreover the molecules that constitute it are volatile by nature and mix rapidly with the air so on the one hand they are “breathed” and through the pulmonary pathway they can reach the circulatory path once again, on the other hand, once they have made contact with the nasal mucosa the odorous molecules (odorants) impact specific receptors that determine the transmission of a signal that reaches the limbic brain, the most “Ancient” of the brain, where the olfactory and ancestral “memories” reside but also the control of comp vegetables and emotions.
It is therefore evident not only the wide field of action of the Aromatic Matter but also that we are faced with the most powerful therapeutic tool present in Nature.
Scientific studies in this regard are now numerous and it is possible to read up to start using the Aromatic Matter, the recommendation is to train in a careful and conscious way to be able to make it an effective and at the same time safe tool through careful advice and the result of a proper preparation.
Dra. Stefania Sartoris
Farmacista – Biologo – Naturopata