How Smell is Helping Treat the Toughest Cases of Trauma

Bold Names

The Wall Street Journal

Technology

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 31 March 2023

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Our sense of smell is deeply linked to our emotions, due to the connections between the tissue structures that identify odors and the parts of the brain that govern our memories and feelings. But what if those smells are linked to traumatic memories? Researchers are finding success using a combination of artificial scents and virtual reality to treat people with severe cases of trauma. WSJ’s Danny Lewis examines how new innovations could make this therapy more accessible. Further reading: High-Tech Smell Sensors Aim to Sniff Out Disease, Explosives—and Even Moods - WSJ The Metaverse’s Effects on Mental Health: Trivial or Troubling? - WSJ The New Halloween Scare: ‘Oh, My God, That Smell Was Gross.’ - WSJ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime members, did you know that you could be listening to this show Add Free on Amazon
0:04.6	Music?
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0:10.3	Avoid the ads and start listening today.
0:13.8	Always funny doing this with a colleague, but what's your full name and how do you describe
0:22.2	what you do?
0:23.2	I'm Ben Kessling, I'm a Midwest correspondent of the Wall Street Journal, but I also covered
0:27.3	defense and veterans issues.
0:30.6	Ben served in the Marine Corps as an infantry officer in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
0:35.2	I recently called Ben up to ask him about something that affects a lot of veterans returning
0:39.0	from combat.
0:40.6	Every so often, I'll just smell something that just brings back a memory that I hadn't
0:44.7	thought about for a long time.
0:47.7	That's right, smell.
0:49.4	It plays a major role in how people experience the world.
0:52.8	Smell underlies our ability to taste and it can act as an early warning sign for our
0:56.9	brains.
0:58.2	For people who have been through trauma, smells can bring back bad memories.
1:02.5	There's very rarely that focus on the odor, the smell of war.
1:08.6	That might be the smell of burning trash because there's so many burn pits over there.
1:13.0	It might be the smell of sand, the smell of dirt, the smell of grease, the smell of J.P.
1:17.6	fuel, the smell of rose water, common perfume overseas.
	...

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