To improve the anti-anxiety effects of mindfulness therapies, there is nothing like smelling body odors emitted under emotion. At least that’s what a new scientific study, recently published in the Journal of Affective Disorders (Source 1).
In a press release (Source 2), the authors of the study point out that our body odors contain a cocktail of chemical processes, or chemosignals, influenced by the emotional state of the person. Knowing that other work has shown that individuals exposed to chemosignals from a person who is afraid or happy approach this state, the team wanted to know what the situation was in the case of pathology. Would people suffering from anxiety or depression benefit from exposure to emotional body odors?
“NWe know that humans are influenced by emotional body odors, even if we are not aware of it. In our study, we wanted to check if this knowledge can be used to improve psychological treatments”, explained Emma Eliasson, researcher at the National Center for Suicide Research and Prevention (NASP, Norway), and third author of the study.
Three different smells tested
For the study, 48 women with symptoms of social anxiety, and 30 women suffering from depression were recruited. They were then randomly divided into three groups:
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