What About Myrrh?
A new study has found that burning incense—as in frankincense, the resin from the Boswellia plant—
“activates poorly understood ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety or depression. This suggests that an entirely new class of depression and anxiety drugs might be right under our noses anxiety and causes other antidepressant activity in the brain.”
We’ve already heard about this as an autism treatment so don’t be surprised if frankincense gets added to the list—-not that spikenard hasn’t already been proposed (if you read the matrixes in Revelation 13 about autism, dioxin, devoured souls, and metals.)
Tags: anxiety, asd, asperger, autism, bible, brain, depression, frankincense, mind, myrrh, Neuroscience, Parenting, pdd-nos, plant, revelation, spikenardRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Religion, Treatment
5 opinions for What About Myrrh?
Norah
May 21, 2008 at 2:31 pm
I’ve been making and burning my own incense (including myrrh as a resin) for years now. I think I’d have noticed if it alleviated my (myriad :p) anxieties. It decidedly does not. Ah well, maybe it will work for others, if only as a placebo (and they can really make a difference, that’s how my brother managed to sleep nightmare-free for years: ‘magic charm’ made by me and a bedtime rhyme).
Bonnie Sayers
May 21, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I prefer the scents of cinnamon. I do not use incense, but an interesting read and I noticed a neighbor starting to do that, but it is just to cover the pot stench..
The only smells of late in my house are those of the skunk persuasion as we have a family of five little ones and the parents under our house along with the five kittens and mother. They come up to our porch at our kitchen back door and eat all during the day and night. Skunks are out in day time too and once there was a racoon at my front door when I came back from taking Matt to school and Nick was inside and I had to wait for racoon to finish cat food before I could get into the yard. A bit off topic but having these creatures around our yard keeps us laughing.
Kristina Chew, PhD
May 22, 2008 at 11:23 am
Bernard Rimland on medical marijuana and autism.
Our condo has the smell of a scented candle from the previous tenant. Charlie is pretty easy-going about smells—he seems to have a pretty high tolerance for those that are less pleasant.
Marla
May 22, 2008 at 1:58 pm
devoured souls??? ugh.
Yeah, around here whenver you smeel incense you know drugs are being smoked or created. Lovely. Can’t say I would want to be breathing in the smoke from that nasty stuff.
Rachel
May 23, 2008 at 3:24 am
I have personally used Frankincense to assist in issues regarding anxiety and depression, although it was an essential oil, and not burned. In my years working with autistic kids I’ve used that oil and others. For some kids it really did calm them down, and quickly. For others, it was just a nice, new sensory experience.
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