How OSME Psychology Transforms Memory and Emotion

In my practice as an OSME psychologist and researcher, I explore the deep connection between scent, memory, and emotion. OSME psychology focuses on how fragrances can trigger strong emotional responses and memories, often bypassing conscious thought to affect the subconscious mind directly. Fragrance has a unique ability to evoke memories or associations with people, places, and experiences, and I use this power of scent to help patients resolve emotional and memory-related issues.

One particular case involved a patient who had undergone therapy for anxiety. Despite the success of the treatment, they found themselves triggered by a specific fragrance they encountered in their daily environment—often in elevators or on the street. This scent was tied to a person from their past who wore a famous brand of perfume, and the subconscious association caused overthinking and anxiety whenever the fragrance appeared.

To address this, we recreated the patient’s memory using the same perfume in a therapeutic setting. By gradually exposing the patient to the fragrance in a controlled, safe environment, we were able to change their emotional response to the scent, transforming it from a trigger for anxiety into something neutral, even positive. This is the essence of OSME psychology: reshaping the subconscious through the strategic use of fragrance to heal emotional wounds.

Fragrance interacts with the brain in a unique way, as scent signals are processed by the limbic system, the part of the brain responsible for emotions and memories. This direct link makes fragrance a powerful tool for addressing memory and emotional issues, especially when traditional methods like CBT fall short. By using specific scents, we can help patients rewire their subconscious responses and form new, healthier associations, creating a path to emotional freedom and well-being.