Advanced Aromatherapy by Kurt Schnaubelt, Ph.D.

Advanced Aromatherapy by Kurt Schnaubelt, Ph.D. Trade Paperback: 138 pages Publisher: Healing Arts Press First Released: 1998

Source: Bought from Books-A-Million

Back Cover Description:
Aromatherapy, the hottest alternative healing method in the United States, is an effective and deeply pleasurable way to maintain well-being. While its concepts can be grasped intuitively, few people realize that scientific proof does, in fact, exist for many uses of aromatherapy. For the first time, Kurt Schnaubelt, a chemist and pioneer of the science of aromatherapy, provides a scientific basis for the efficacy of essential oils, explained clearly and logically.

Advanced Aromatherapy draws on broad-based research to demonstrate how essential oils interact with the different systems of the body and how they affect emotional states as well as physical ones.


Review:
In my opinion, anyone who wants to mix their own essential oils (rather than buy pre-mixed oils or follow proven recipes) needs to read Advanced Aromatherapy in order to safely do so. The book explains the science behind why the essential oils work the way they do and provides the results of scientific studies that show which oils are most effective at doing certain actions (like killing certain viruses or bacteria).

This book helps the reader to understand: why various essential oils act on the human body the way they do. Why some essential oils, when combined, are more powerful than when used alone and how to select oils to create this effect. Why different chemotypes of the same essential oil can have different effects. Which oils are safe to use daily and long term and which should be limited in amount used, duration used, or how they are administered. Which oils are safe to take orally or to use on sensitive skin like mucus membranes. Which medical conditions essential oils are very successful at treating and which conditions are less so or which require long-term use to create improvement. And much more.

The book also contains a section covering various medical conditions (from the 'flu to bruises and scrapes) and gives recipes for which oils to use to treat these conditions and how to most effectively administer the oils.

I found the book easy to read and understand, and I refer back to it frequently. Readers with little science education might be a little overwhelmed at times, though. Overall, I'd highly recommend this book to those interested in aromatherapy, especially those interested in the medical uses of essential oils.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt from page 34, 36
Belaiche used the aromatogram, a testing method that allowed him to examine the effectiveness of essential oils against specific bacteria. These microbiological tests are used in aromamedicine (a term that refers to the medicinal uses of aromatherapy) to determine the most effective essential oil combination for combating a specific infection. Cultures of a patient's intestinal flora are exposed to various essential oils to determine which essential oils have the strongest antibacterial effects against the pathogens specific to a particular patient. From the information derived from thousands of aromatograms some generalizations can be made regarding the effectiveness of essential oils against various pathogenic bacteria. In his book, Belaiche examines the sensitivity of pathogenic germs to a variety of essential oils. His work contains comprehensive tables that list the degree of effectiveness of forty essential oils against the pathogens occurring most frequently in common infectious diseases: Proteus morgani, Proteus mirabilis, Proteus rettgeri (intestinal infection), Alcalescens dispar, Corynebacterium xerosa (diphtheria), Neisseria flava (sinus and ear infection), Klebsiella pneumoniase (lung infection), Staphylocossus alba (food poisoning), Staphylococcus aureus (pus-causing), and Pneumococcus, Candida albicans.

The effectiveness of essential oils against these germs was observed not only in laboratory tests. Belaiche also clinically treated numerous infectious illnesses, among them chronic and acute bronchitis, rhinitis (cold, catarrh), angina, sinus infections, childhood illnesses, tuberculosis, and malaria.