Depression may be a condition in your life, but with the help of pure essential oils, it certainly doesn’t have to be a way of life.
Essential oils are becoming more well-known for their ability to promote overall health and wellness, producing an overall calmness and uplifting of the body, mind and spirit. That uplifting can apply to the heavy burden of depression when you choose essential oils that contain antidepressant properties.
How They Work
When you inhale the aroma of a pure essential oil, the molecules quickly interact with your olfactory system and your brain. The molecules additionally enter the lungs, where they interact with your entire respiratory system and can move through various pathways and systems throughout your entire body.
The interaction that can be most beneficial to depression is the one between the aromatherapy essential oils and the emotional brain, which is officially known as your limbic system. That’s because the limbic system enjoys a direct link to the areas of your brain that controls your blood pressure, heart rate, memory, breathing, hormone balance and, perhaps most importantly for depression, your stress levels.
Both Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota point to studies that have shown essential oils can benefit overall wellness, produce positive effects for a wide range of health conditions and work especially well for helping to alleviate depression.
Best Essential Oils for Depression
The best essential oils in general are those that merit recognition as organic health and wellness products, grown and harvested using all-natural methods. The best oils for depression include a very wide range of possibilities, many of which are noted by Organic Facts. Depression-lifting essential oils include:
- Bergamot
- Birch
- Chamomile
- Clary sage
- Grapefruit
- Jasmine
- Lemongrass
- Orange
- Patchouli
- Rose
- Rosemary
- Vanilla
- Ylang Ylang
Essential Oil Recipes for Depression
While you can always go with a single essential oil for use in your diffuser or bath, you can also combine more than one to create a specific recipe of oils geared toward alleviating depression.
AromaWeb suggests the following blends, which can be multiplied by four to produce 20 drops of oil for use in diffusers.
Fifteen drops of essential oils mixed with 2 ounces of a carrier oil, such as jojoba, can create a blend for approximately eight bath sessions. Each bath should contain about ¼ oz. of the essential oil/carrier oil mix. Multiply the blend recipes by three to produce 15 drops of the blend.
Bergamot Blend
- 3 drops Bergamot
- 2 drops Clary Sage
Lemon-Frankincense Blend
- 1 drop Lemon
- 2 drops Frankincense
- 2 drops Jasmine
Rose Blend
- 1 drop Rose
- 1 drop Orange
- 3 drops Sandalwood
Ylang Ylang Blend
- 1 drop Ylang Ylang
- 1 drop Lavender
- 3 drops Grapefruit
If you are aiming to treat you depression with another condition or happen to particularly enjoy a specific blend of scents, you are always free to experiment with essential oil combinations to find one that works especially well for your individual tastes and ailments. And even if you’re not feeling depressed, essential oils remain a beneficial component of any daily routine for their ability to soothe your emotional health.
