ABSTRACT
Aromatherapy is broadly defined as ‘treatment with odours’ (Buchbauer, 1992). However, in England it involves the application of a very diluted essential oil (EO) or mixture of EOs (1-2 per cent) in a carrier oil like almond oil, which is massaged into the skin; either on hands, feet, head or the total body (Ryman, 1991; Worwood, 1991; Westwood, 1991; Price, 1993). Aromatherapy can also mean the addition of drops of EO to the bath or a basin of hot water, or the volatilization of the EO(s) using various burners. It usually involves counselling about diet, exercise, life-style etc. by the aromatherapist, who may have absolutely no qualifications to offer such advice. In France, Germany and other parts of Europe, aromatherapy takes on a different meaning as it involves the internal usage of EOs as medicines, and is practised by medicallyqualified doctors (Lis-Balchin, 1997). This includes oral, rectal and vaginal introduction of EOs into the body, as well as massaging in of more concentrated EOs into the body. This ‘clinical aromatherapy’ has also spread to England and the United States, where totally unqualified people practise internal usage of various EOs after making their diagnosis of the client’s medical condition. Other herbs, novel medicinal plant extracts, hydrolats, herbal oils, phytols, infusions etc. are often included in the aromatherapy treatment, although the herbal knowledge of the aromatherapists may be lacking (Lis-Balchin, 1999). Many of the attributes of lavender oil were mistakenly taken from herbals, for example, Culpeper (1653), who used alcoholic extracts or teas, not distilled EOs and was also interested in astrology, hence every plant had an assigned planet. The definition and application of aromatherapy can therefore range from a mixture of the paranormal aspects of plant essences and their energetics to the medical and scientific aspects of the EOs as chemicals.
