Aromatherapy Therapy Basics

This book is aimed at National Vocational Qualification level III students of aromatherapy. Overall it is well written with the right emphasis on safety, science and practical information. Books like this are important if we are to have standardisation of the teaching in this area of CM, which is not independently regulated. A lot of the information in this book can be found in most other aromatherapy publications; however, as this book is a teaching manual, each chapter starts with fixed objectives and ends in a self-assessment section.

Unlike many aromatherapy manuals, the final chapter is dedicated to research but interestingly focuses on how a therapist might get involved in research and how to access research papers as opposed to any summary of past research. I feel this is an omission and certainly subjects such as stress, relaxation and well-being, for which there is some research, could be covered in a separate chapter. Perhaps this is a possibility for future editions of this book and thus would provide some exposure of this important aspect of aromatherapy to its students. To write an evidence-based book for aromatherapy and aromatherapy massage practice is a hard task because of the lack of scientific and medical evaluation of this therapy. To balance this, if we were to promote only those areas of the therapy that have been studied, it would just limit our knowledge of any potential benefits of aromatherapy.