Essential Oils for Addictions

Addiction includes things like drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceuticals. But it’s possible to be addicted to less threatening substances, like sodas, sugar, candy, food. There are also addictive activities, like pornography, gambling, or other bad habits that people develop a dependency upon. This dependency can lead to health issues, guilt, anxiety, and withdrawal symptoms of headaches, nausea, sickness, cravings, anger, and more.

Essential oils can be very useful and really help reduce many of the negative symptoms of withdrawal, as well as assist in letting go of the addiction.

See below for specific essential oils to use depending upon your addiction, but if you’re looking for an essential oil good for many addiction, Basil and Grapefruit are too of the most universal. You can inhale with a diffuser or inhaler or dilute with a carrier oil and use topically.

Alcohol: Rosemary, Basil, Frankincense, Lemon and Chamomile Essential Oils

Anxiety: Ylang Ylang and Lavender Essential Oils

Caffeine: Basil and Grapefruit Essential Oils

Cravings: Grapefruit, Clove, Cilantro, Cinnamon, and Peppermint Essential Oils

Drugs: Grapefruit, Chamomile, and Basil (for marijuana) essential oils

Eating Disorders: Grapefruit, Bergamot, and Cinnamon Essential Oils

Food: Grapefruit and Basil Essential Oils

Porn: Frankincense Essential Oil

Sex: Geranium and Sandalwood Essential Oils

Sugar: Grapefruit Essential Oil

Tobacco: Clove, Basil, Black Pepper Essential Oils

Withdrawal Symptoms: Marjoram, Sandalwood, Orange, Grapefruit, Lavender, and other citrus essential oils

Work Addiction: Basil, Ylang Ylang, Orange, and Lavender Essential Oils

Further reading on addictions and aromatherapy.

Quote (below) from the above references article and book Modern Essentials

Essential oils are great because they can help with many of the symptoms of withdrawal, such as nausea, headaches, insomnia, anxiety, etc., and they can help boost your mood and increase your energy (See Modern Essentials for supporting research) so that you can keep pushing forward on the road to recovery. Essential oils can also help reduce stress (See Modern Essentials p.274), which is important because stress is one of the biggest reasons why people engage in addictive behaviors in the first place.