Give it a try: Familiar scents can help recall happy memories and alleviate depression
Have you ever had the opportunity to sniff certain scents and found that they instantly transported you back to joyful memories? According to research, scents are more effective than words at bringing back pleasant memories. They also assist individuals in overcoming depression by severing their connection to it and releasing them from negative thought patterns.
According to a University of Pittsburgh study, 32 participants, ranging in age from 18 to 55, were exposed to 12 distinct scents in jars; those participants were found to have major depressive illness. Various smells come in various jars, such as ketchup, orange essential oil, ground coffee, coconut oil, cumin powder, red wine, clove bulbs, shoe polish, and Vicks VapoRub.
The New York Post said that after inhaling the vial’s scent, researchers asked the subjects to think back on a particular memory and categorize it as pleasant or terrible.
According to Kymberly Young, lead author of a study published in Jama Network Open, depressed people were more likely to remember particular memories or events—like being at a coffee shop a week ago—than more generic memories when they smelled a familiar scent.
More “vivid, immersive, and real” memories were elicited by scents, according to her, than by word cues.
Young, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, stated in a press release, “It was surprising to me that nobody thought to look at memory recall in depressed individuals using scent cues before.”
Young discovered that by focusing attention on particular events, the amygdala—a region of the brain in charge of regulating the “fight or flight” response—assists in memory recall.
The olfactory bulb, a mass of nerve tissue connected to the sense of smell, has nerve connections that allow scents to activate the amygdala.
Young was inspired to investigate fragrance and memory recall in depressed persons because she saw that scent might bring back pleasant memories in non-depressed people.
According to Young, those suffering from depression may recover more quickly if their memory is improved.
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