'Scent therapy' helps unlock memories in people with depression, trial finds

By Nicoletta Lanese
published about 2 hours ago

Scent therapy could be a useful tool for helping people with depression tap into their autobiographical memories, a small trial hints.


People with depression may struggle to recall specific memories about their lives — for instance, a dinner party with friends or a visit to their favorite coffee shop. Now, a small trial suggests that "scent therapy" could help people with depression unlock those difficult-to-access autobiographical memories (AMs).

The trial, described Tuesday (Feb. 13) in the journal JAMA Network Open, included 32 adults with major depressive disorder and used familiar scents — such as coffee grounds, oranges and Vicks VapoRub — as prompts for the participants to recall specific memories. So, for example, if presented with coffee, a person might think of meeting up with their sibling for lattes on a specific spring afternoon, as opposed to just generally thinking of the local cafe they often visit.

Previous studies had tried similar memory tests but instead used words and pictures as cues for the participants. So, in the new trial, the scientists switched between scents and words as cues, to see if one type of trigger might be more effective at jogging people's autobiographical memories. They found that the participants recalled more specific memories when cued by smell.

"It was surprising to me that nobody thought to look at memory recall in depressed individuals using scent cues before," senior study author Kymberly Young, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, said in a statement. Scents are known to trigger strong, often emotional, memories in a unique way that other stimuli don't necessarily do.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/health/psychology/scent-therapy-helps-unlock-memories-in-people-with-depression-trial-finds