Aromatherapy in anxiety, depression, and insomnia: A bibliometric study and visualization analysis

Area of Science:

• Integrative and Complementary Medicine
• Pharmacology
• Mental Health Research

Background:

• Aromatherapy, utilizing essential oils (EOs) from aromatic plants, is a natural therapeutic approach.
• EOs and their constituents possess diverse pharmacological activities, with significant interest in their application for mental health conditions like anxiety and depression.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a bibliometric analysis of scientific output and research trends in aromatherapy for anxiety, depression, and insomnia.
• To visualize research progress and identify key areas of focus and future directions in this field.

Main Methods:

• Bibliometric analysis of publications from the Web of Science Core Collection (2001-2021).
• Utilized CiteSpace and VOSviewer for data analysis and visualization.
• Analyzed publication counts, countries, journals, authors, and keyword co-occurrences.

Main Results:

• Identified 1159 articles published across 578 journals by 260 authors from 88 countries.
• The United States, China, Brazil, and Japan were leading contributors.
• Research frontiers identified include "oxidative stress," "chemical composition," "systematic review," and "sleep quality."

Conclusions:

• Aromatherapy research for mental health disorders has shown a steady increase over the past two decades.
• The study provides an updated perspective on research hotspots and developmental tendencies of natural remedies for mental health.
• Findings offer valuable insights for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in developing mental health interventions.