Scents of Self: Reclaiming the Olfactory Imagination in Depth Psychology

Abstract

The purpose of this phenomenological hermeneutic study is to explore the experience of fragrance from a depth perspective. Published works in the arts, psychology, literature, and scientific studies show a surprising lack of attention to the intersection of scent, psyche, and soma. Scent has rarely been examined in depth psychology and is often limited to its connection with primitive sexual repression. There is a lack of language to speak about scent from an emotional perspective, scent language typically relies on relating scent to other objects or sensations. Through a depth psychological perspective, this study explored how scent can affect our psyche and inner world both consciously and unconsciously. A discussion of how scent can be reclaimed by Self was described through an exploration of several psychological topics: dreams, motherhood, clinical practice, and Active Imagination. This study found that scent could be an active part of the psychological experience when given the focus, curiosity, and integration into our being that we tend to reserve for sight and hearing. This study offered a beginning inquiry into scent and psyche and poses further implications for the field to explore how scent may impacts Self in subtle ways.