Article Summary

Scott in the article ‘Essential Oils and Aromatherapy: Worth the Hype?” tries to analyze the evidence available concerning the use of aromatherapy as a form of alternative and complementary medicine. The article first introduces the concept of essential oils indicating that only around three thousand plants in the world have the capacity to produce essential oils. Scott (2015A) points out essential oils usually have the capacity to cause inflammation and to act as antiseptics in cases where one is in pain. The main objective of the introduction part of the article helps in preparing the reader to understand the concept of essential oils and how they are used in aromatherapy.

 In the second section of the article, the author tries to critically analyze the effectiveness of the aromatherapy in addressing various types of problems. The author indicates that different studies that have been carried out show that aromatherapy help in relieving anxiety in a person, however, concludes that more studies using high-quality methodology should be carried out in the future to ascertain the findings. 

            Additionally, the article also tries to provide evidence aimed at determining the effectiveness of the aromatherapy as a form of CAM to address sleeping problems, hypertension, nausea and vomiting, dementia, pain, and stress. The author provides evidence from different studies that have been carried out on the issues and comes up with conclusion supported by the provided evidence. What the article tries to bring out is that aromatherapy effectiveness as a form of CAM needs to be ascertained by carrying out more studies using a high quality methodology to determine whether it can address various health problems, such as stress, pain, and others effectively. The article is valid as the claims it makes are based on scientifically proven data from different studies carried out on aromatherapy effectiveness to deal with different health problems.