B A C K G R O U N D
"Patients with depression have a significantly poorer sense of smell..."
Scents, both the good and the bad, can trigger strong emotions and memories.
These olfactory, or scent-based, emotions and memories are what you may experience when you feel a wave of nostalgia from the scent of freshly baked grandmother's cookies, or a feeling of discomfort from the sharp smell of hospital disinfectant. These memories and emotions are created and triggered by our brain's main olfactory system:
In those who suffer from clinical depression, the olfactory system is significantly impaired, resulting in olfactory deficits and losses that prohibit depressed patients from experiencing strongly pleasant memories and emotions.This ends up reinforcing the depressive circuit of the patient.
C O N C E P T
To support depressed patients who "couldn't smell", I wanted to make use of sight, another source of sensory input, to alleviate the reinforced depressive emotions that patients may experience from olfactory deficits.
Aromatherapy is an alternative method of therapy that usually compliments a main source of medication.
There is no medical evidence of aromatherapy curing any physical or mental illness, but it does improve general wellbeing, which is why it is used to compliment a primary method of medication. I decided to work with aromatherapy because it is not only easily accessible, but also an experience that can be enjoyed with others, which may hopefully increase a patient's relationships with his/her support group.
Upon researching I was able to identify and purchase 3 aromatherapy fragrances suitable for depression:
As I tried a whiff of each myself, I took notes on how to convey each aroma using visual elements.
T H E A R O M A S
thank you!
