The history and development of modern-British aromatherapy

Page 1

The history and development of modern-British

aromatherapy

J. Bensouilah

116 Portsmouth Road, Cobham, Surrey, United Kingdom

Summary This article will explore the historical origins of British aromatherapy,

discuss its evolution into the popular complementary therapy it is today and finally

present a speculative discussion about its future in 21st century Britain. By neces-

sity, I will discuss the place which many well-known aromatherapy personalities

have in British aromatherapy history and at the outset, I must stress that this article

is a result of my personal research and I apologise to any whom I may have omitted

and inadvertently offended by such omission. In addition to the many ‘‘names’’ in

British aromatherapy that will be discussed, I hope to bring recognition to the many

individual therapists, whose contributions over the years have made aromatherapy

the respected therapy it is today.

The arrival of aromatherapy

When the practice of aromatherapy as we know it

today, first arrived in Britain in the 1960s, it was

through the work of the Austrian nurse Marguerite

Maury, whose book, The Secret of Life and Youth,

published in French in 1961 and translated into Eng-

lish in 1964 offered a valuable resource of informa-

tion on topics as varied as health, beauty,

dietetics, cooking, herbs, essential oils and homeo-

pathy. A contemporary of Dr. Jean Valnet, having

moved to France after gaining qualifications in

nursing, Maury, worked as a medical assistant to

a surgeon. During the course of her work she was

given a 19th century book that had been written

by Dr Chabenes (who later taught Rene-Maurice

Gattefosse) under the title Les Grandes Possibili-

ties par les Matieres Odoriferantes. This book be-

came her bible, and together with her husband, a

specialist in acupuncture and homeopathy, she ex-

plored the world of natural healing, eventually

opening clinics in Paris, Switzerland and London.

Under the influence of Maury, British aromather-

apy in the 1960s developed under a philosophy of

using essential oils through external application, to

treat both the mind and body. Maury advocated

the ‘‘individual mixture’’ or Individual Prescription,

a blend of essential oils and vegetable oils, created

uniquely for each patient, to restore their emotional

0962-4562/$ - see front matter

doi:10.1016/j.ijat.2005.07.002

Originally published in Japanese in Aromatopia (Fragrance

Journal Ltd.) Original publication was in two parts in Volume 14,

Issue 2, pp 76–79 and in Volume 14, Issue 3, pp 48–52.

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The International Journal of Aromatherapy (2005) 15, 134–140

intl.elsevierhealth.com/journals/ijar

The International

Journal of

Aromatherapy

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andphysicalbalance.Herapproachbroughttogether

ideas from Chinese medicine, homeopathy, herbal-

ism and reflexotherapy and she emphasised the

importance of the cutaneous route of essential oil

application, using knowledge of ‘‘viscero-cutaneous

reflexes’’ (Maury, 1989) as a basis for this approach.

Working right up until her death in 1968, Maury in-

spired many British aromatherapists, including her

pupil Daniele Ryman, who was largely responsible

for continuing Maury’s work in Britain. Born in Ca-

hors, France, Ryman studied as a biochemist and

worked alongside Maury in both her London and Paris

clinics, where she specialised in the development of

therapeutic, cosmetic and skincare products. In the

preface to the 1989 edition of The Secret of Life and

Youth, Maury’s husband writes of Ryman:

Marguerite Maury has not been with us for the last

20 years now, but her work lives on. She inspired

other writers, some of whom even neglected

to acknowledge her. One exception is D. R who

worked with her until the end. She in turn has

taken up the torch thereby allowing the fruits of

Marguerite Maury’s long experience to be passed

on to future generations.

Long regarded as one of the pioneers of British

aromatherapy, Ryman has written several books,

which have been published in 14 languages. A very

successful businesswoman, she continues to pro-

mote a popular style of aromatherapy, which con-

centrates on the aesthetic and cosmetic aspects

of the therapy.

Following a similar pathway, Micheline Arcier and

Eve Taylor, both pupils of Maury, have concentrated

their careers on refining the aesthetic application of

aromatherapy in Britain over almost forty years, a

style of application which until recently was very

characteristic of the British approach to the ther-

apy. Arcier, continues working in London today,

her Knightsbridge shop, the first of its kind when it

was opened in 1981 and run now by her daughter

Marie-Christine,isthecentreofheractivities,where

she continues to treat clients, train therapists and

create new products. Many aromatherapists training

inBritainin the late1960s and early seventies,would

have been trained by either Arcier or Taylor, before

going on to establish their own professional careers

including in many cases training colleges. Thus it

can beseen how the diffusionofknowledgein Britain

has its roots with Marguerite Maury.

Britain in the 1960s

Although a detailed account of the socio-econom-

ics of Britain during this period lies outside the

scope of this article, it is interesting to consider

the nature of Britain at the time. It may help to

suggest why these early aromatherapists were able

to establish a permanent niche for themselves and

the therapy in the UK in the second half of the 20th

century, rather than it being a passing fad. 1960s

Britain was a time of changing roles for women,

as they escaped the confines of the traditional

domestic scene and entered into the workplace,

helping to form the first ‘‘consumer generation’’.

With influences from the worlds of fashion, beauty,

film and music shaping a post-modernist culture,

where image was everything, the ‘‘swinging

sixties’’ saw the wide availability of affordable

cosmetics replacing their expensive, dull predeces-

sors, with companies like Estee Lauder launching

products in UK department stores from the 1960s

onwards. Aromatherapy found its niche during this

period of experimentation and it is no coincidence

that it was the aesthetic side of the therapy,

which gained a hold, linking it in the public

imagination with beauty therapy. This was con-

firmed by young aromatherapists of the time such

as Shirley Price, Joanna Hoare, Germaine Rich

and Maria Raworth, all associating their early ther-

apy careers with the beauty industry, following the

spirit of Maury in her quest for the ‘‘secret of life

and youth’’.

Interest in finding a natural way to

health and beauty grows

Moving into the 1970s and 1980s, around about the

same time as aromatherapy was gaining a substan-

tial place in the cosmetics and beauty industry,

there was a small but growing movement towards

natural therapies and what has become known in

Britain as complementary and alternative medicine

(CAM). It is simple to see how aromatherapy was

attractive to both industries, with this growing

awareness of using plant-based remedies for health

promotion as well as beauty. British businesses

such as The Body Shop and Neals Yard Remedies,

started around this time, (1976 and 1981, respec-

tively) went on to become globally successful com-

panies and although their focus is not purely

aromatherapy, both by association, have signifi-

cantly contributed to the popularity of it in the UK.

Robert Tisserand, one of only a handful of male

aromatherapy pioneers in Britain, developed the

subject further, with the publication in 1977 of

The Art of Aromatherapy, the first book written

in English on the subject. Unique in its time, the

book has provided a template for hundreds of

The history and development of modern-British aromatherapy

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others, which have been written in recent years,

meeting the needs of a popular market. Described

by Tisserand as a ‘‘personal book’’, the influence it

has had on aromatherapy evolution and education

in Britain can clearly be seen by these words:

Aromatherapy cannot be divorced from a number

of things: the basic principles of natural therapeu-

tics, massage, diet and our whole attitude to life.

This is why many pages are devoted to these same

subjects (Tisserand, 1977).

In other words, aromatherapy as espoused by

Tisserand is much more than the aromatics – or

aesthetics – it is a complete holistic therapy.

Education

With the burgeoning interest in aromatherapy being

regarded as a distinct career, separate from beauty

therapy, specialist colleges began opening during

the late 1970s and early 1980s, with Raworth Col-

lege, the London School of Aromatherapy, Purple

Flame Academy, The Tisserand Institute and Shirley

Price Aromatherapy all establishing themselves

around this time. When Shirley Price – one of Brit-

ain’s most prolific aromatherapy writers and teach-

ers – began studying aromatherapy herself in 1975,

there were four colleges, today there are now well

over fifty in Britain, which are accredited by the

main professional associations, and numerous oth-

ers, which are non-accredited or multi-disciplinary.

During her career, Price has taught thousands of

students around the world and following her retire-

ment in 1998 she is no longer officially involved in

education, although her daughter Penny Price

continues the legacy. However, together with her

husband Len she continues to write, having nine

titles published between them, starting with her

first book which was published in 1983.

pioneers

aromatherapy

education,

although Shirley Price and Maria Raworth began

their aromatherapy careers firmly allied to the

beauty industry, both actively pursued interests

in the therapeutic potential of aromatherapy, and

from the outset their courses, which were unique

in their time, reflected this. Through the develop-

ment and delivery of their diploma courses, Price,

Raworth and Tisserand amongst others, all played

influential roles in moving aromatherapy away from

the aesthetic-beauty-therapy bias popularised by

the Maury/Arcier/Ryman model, towards a more

clinical-holistic one, centred on the clinical, thera-

peutic qualities of the individual essential oils. This

shift in emphasis coincided with increasing num-

bers of nurses becoming attracted to the therapy

and it is possible to speculate as to whether it

was the nurses driving the therapy, or the evolving

therapy attracting the nurses; depending on who is

consulted, both possibilities are advocated.

As a result of this deepening appreciation and

awareness of the clinically therapeutic properties

of oils – in part due to knowledge coming from

the ‘‘medical model’’ of French-style aromather-

apy – pioneering British courses began to include

compulsory modules in chemistry, essential oil

and biomedical sciences, albeit in a limited form,

reflecting the evolution of the subject into a ther-

apeutic modality. As courses started to increase

their scientific weighting, the holistic side of the

therapy was still seen as being equally important.

External application of oils remained the mainstay

of therapeutic practice, but alongside massage,

other therapeutic methods of external application

were incorporated into aromatherapy treatment

plans to maximise the curative effect. Profes-

sional-level courses trained therapists to use

holistic counselling skills to establish therapeutic

relationships with their clients and many included

nutrition studies to enable therapists to advise

their clients on lifestyle and dietary changes.

Is there a standard british aromatherapy

training course today?

Since the late 1980s, changes to education have

continued apace, with diploma level courses now

being typically delivered over several months dura-

tion and being a minimum of 250 h long. There is

however no single standard British aromatherapy

course, with great variations existing in course con-

tent and underpinning philosophy. The introduction

in 1998 of National Occupational Standards (NOS)

has gone some way to standardising aromatherapy

curriculum requirements, but there is still a very

wide disparity in how courses are delivered and

qualifications awarded. The NOS were originally

developed as part of a programme of work commis-

sioned to set standards of competency within the

health and social care sector. Three major groups

of health care practitioner were included:

1. Health promotion

2. Professions allied to medicine (e.g., physiother-

apists, radiographers, occupational therapists)

3. Complementary medicine (aromatherapy, re-

flexology, hypnotherapy, homeopathy)

The NOS for aromatherapy were revised in 2002

and have influenced the development of courses. In

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J. Bensouilah

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theory there is therefore now a national standard

which underpins the education and training of Brit-

ish aromatherapists. It must be stressed however

that as yet, adherence to NOS is voluntary as there

is no legal requirement for course providers to

meet the standards and they are not universally ac-

cepted or applied. For courses which do match the

standards, a look at their common themes (Table 1)

shows that the breadth of topics covered is thor-

oughly holistic.

Associations and the right to practise

Unlike much of the rest of Europe, under UK law,

aromatherapists have always had the right to

practise without the requirement of being medi-

cally qualified. There are no statutory regulations

governing how therapists are trained or how they

work in general; the exception is if they wish to

work with animals, where legislation does exist

to restrict the work of non-veterinary personnel.

This freedom to practise has been a great bonus

for the development of the whole CAM field in

Britain but it is now the subject of increasing

intervention by both national and European

authorities.

Since 1985, Britain has had a self-regulatory

structure of sorts, with the formation of the first

aromatherapy association. Founded by Sue Bee-

chey, Candice Bishop, Geraldine Howard, Shirley

Price, Germaine Rich, Ann Sutherland, and Robert

Tisserand the International Federation of Aroma-

therapists (IFA) was set up to oversee the therapy,

concentrating in the early days on establishing

training standards. Subsequent years saw the for-

mation of many other associations, with the Regis-

ter of Qualified Aromatherapists (RQA) in 1990 by

Gabriel Mojay and International Society of Profes-

sional Aromatherapists (ISPA) in 1991 by Shirley

Price being the main (in terms of membership size)

single-therapy alternatives. Each association set its

own minimum standards of training and member-

ship, with the ISPA, IFA and RQA remaining broadly

in line with each other. However, with the prolifer-

ation of associations, some with only a very few

members, came disunity within the profession

and in an attempt at maintaining cohesion, the

Aromatherapy Organisations Council (AOC) was

formed in 1991, with Gabriel Mojay as Chair. In

Mojays’ words, the AOC was:

inspired by Shirley Price and was an inclusive body

in the early days. At the time it was felt that a lead

body, or watchdog was required.

Acting as an umbrella organisation, the AOC was

not open to individual therapist members, rather,

it was the associations which formed its member-

ship. Mojay was instrumental in organising the first

AOC conference in 1992, ‘‘Essential Oils and Public

Safety’’, an indication of the direction the profes-

sion was following, from its earlier roots in the cos-

metics industry.

Then, as now, many who were involved in the

practitioner associations also had commercial

interests in the oil supplies arena and it was seen

as necessary to separate the two aspects of the

therapy with the formation in 1992 of the Aroma-

therapy Trade Council (ATC). According to their

website, the ATC was:

Formed in 1992 to safeguard the availability of

responsibly marketed essential oils, the Aroma-

therapy Trade Council (ATC) is the authoritative

and democratic trade association for the specialist

and hugely expanding UK aromatherapy essential

oil trade. Appointed as the Code Administrators

for the industry in 1995 by the Medicines Control

Agency (MCA) the ATC represents trade and

consumer interests on all relevant statutory and

non-statutory bodies, thereby influencing policy

decisions at all levels of regulation and legislation

(Anon, 2004a).

Table 1 Common themes in the National Occupa-

tional Standards for Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy assessment and principles

Aromatherapy treatment programme

Bereavement

Bounds of competence

Clinical skills and diagnosis

Communication, consultation skills and therapeutic

relationship

Consent

Continuing professional development

Cultural factors and diversity

Disability

Essential oils

Ethics, code of conduct, confidentiality

Goal setting

Holistic, integrated care

Liaison with other practitioners, referral procedures

Legislation

Professional indemnity

Record keeping

Role and scope of aromatherapy

Safety

Self-treatment

Supervision and support

National Occupational Standards for Aromatherapy

Document, www.aromatherapy-regulation.org.uk.

The history and development of modern-British aromatherapy

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Despite the ideal of professional unity being

advocated by many in the emerging profession,

an ideal seen as a necessity in the increasingly reg-

ulated field of CAM, disunity and disagreement con-

tinued to plague aromatherapy throughout the final

decade of the 20th century. Attempts to deal with

some of these issues culminated in 2002, when fol-

lowing lengthy negotiations which started in 1999

between the IFA, ISPA and RQA, the ISPA and RQA

eventually merged, becoming the International

Federation of Professional Aromatherapists (IFPA).

This currently has the largest number of registered

therapists amongst the single-therapy associations,

with over 2700 members worldwide. The IFA

decided against merging and remains an influen-

tial, albeit smaller association, with a membership

of approximately 1600.

It is worth noting that these membership figures

are far from representative of the size of the pro-

fession in Britain, as many therapists are not fully

embedded within the structures of practitioner

associations, preferring to remain unregistered or

are multi-disciplinary and belong to one of the

many associations catering for this. For therapists,

membership of an association brings a sense of pro-

fessional cohesion, as information is disseminated

through association journals and press releases.

At their best, the associations can be a driving

force for change, protecting their members’ inter-

ests along the way as they negotiate with the reg-

ulatory bodies. For members, there are also in

some cases (notably IFPA) annual conferences and

AGMs, which are organised by the associations,

which offer an opportunity to network with other

like-minded individuals as well as having the

chance to listen to presentations and attend work-

shops to satisfy the requirements for continuing

professional development. At the present time,

there is a lack of aromatherapy conferences held

in the UK, with the IFPA annual conference being

virtually the only such specialist event.

Recent regulatory events

The relatively unregulated situation in Britain is set

to change. Several factors are driving the process

of change in CAM, with aromatherapy as well as

others currently undergoing much official scrutiny.

In November 2000, the publication by the House of

Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology

report on Complementary and Alternative Medicine

(Anon, 2000) reported that:

The Common Law right to practise medicine means

that in the United Kingdom anyone can treat a sick

person even if they have no training in any type of

healthcare whatsoever, provided that the individ-

ual treated has given informed consent. (Treat-

ment without consent constitutes an assault).

Persons exercising this right must not identify

themselves by any of the titles protected by stat-

ute and they cannot prescribe medicines that are

regulated prescription-only drugs. This means that,

as long as they do not claim to be a medical prac-

titioner registered under the Medical Act, then any-

one can offer medical advice and treatment and

can purport to treat a range of diseases, provided

that they do not claim to cure or treat certain

specified diseases as proscribed by law. The Com-

mon Law right to practise springs from the funda-

mental principle that everyone can choose the

form of healthcare that they require.

The report, which was welcomed by most work-

ing in CAM, and which was largely endorsed by the

Government recommended:

That a clear need exists for more eective public

guidance about what does and does not work.

That the public interest is best served by better

regulatory structures.

That government should develop centres of

excellence for CAM research through a ten year

programme, which would be an early step in

helping CAM to build up a rigorous evidence base.

That there should be increased integration

between orthodox medicine and CAM but for

therapies to be integrated into the NHS, they

must be either statutorily regulated or have an

eective system of voluntary regulation.

That training courses should be standardised, be

accredited and validated.

That every therapist must understand the

principles of evidence-based medicine and

healthcare.

The report looked at a large number of therapies

and proposed three groupings (Table 2), from

which developed recommendations for the future

of CAM in the UK.

For aromatherapy, this has led to an increased

drive to unite and standardise the profession and

a major step is the replacement of the AOC by

the umbrella organisation the Aromatherapy Con-

sortium (AC), which aims to be the UK regulatory

body, eventually becoming the Aromatherapy

Council. This has brought together the majority

of interested parties who seem to be working pos-

itively towards establishing an effective system of

self-regulation, a key requirement if aromatherapy

is to be integrated into wider health care provision.

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J. Bensouilah

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Table 3 lists other key recommendations of the

House of Lords Report, pertinent to aromatherapy.

The future – integrated health?

In recent years, there has been a huge increase in

interest in CAM in Britain, an interested stimulated

by bodies such as the Prince of Wales’s Foundation

for Integrated Health (FIH), formerly known as the

Foundation for Integrated Medicine. Established in

1994, the Foundation actively promotes the inte-

gration of therapies into mainstream health and

medical care and makes annual Awards for Good

Practice in Integrated Healthcare. The awards rec-

ognise excellence in the provision of complemen-

tary and conventional approaches to healthcare in

therapeutic settings and examples of winners in-

clude the Christie Hospital in Manchester, which

specialises in providing aromatherapy to adult leu-

kaemia patients (Anon, 2004b).

In April 2004 the Government’s Patient Choice

Initiative added to the swell of interest in inte-

grated healthcare, as complementary therapies

look set to become increasingly available through

the National Health Service (NHS), with aromather-

apy being one of those frequently cited as being

most used by patients. Under the Alternative Pro-

vider Medical Services Guidance, 2004, there is an

unprecedented opportunity for CAM therapists to

engage with Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) – local

bodies which control provision of health care – as

under this scheme PCTs have a duty to meet the

health needs of local communities and can commis-

sion new and complementary services, which im-

prove patient choice. In view of the growing use

of CAM therapies by patients, it is very likely that

PCTs will look to this sector and aromatherapy is

set to be one of those most in demand.

Table 3 House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology Recommendations for CAM therapies,

including aromatherapy

Specific claims for treating specific conditions must be supported by evidence beyond the placebo effect

If a critical mass of evidence supporting a therapy exists, the medical profession and public must have access to it

and its potential benefits

Professions with several regulatory bodies should work together to develop clear professional structures

A single professional body should exist for each therapy

Regulatory bodies should develop clear guidelines on training and competency

Independent accreditation boards should be established

Continuing professional development should be a core requirement for membership of professional bodies

Every therapist working in CAM should have a clear understanding of the principles of evidence-based medicine

Research methods and outcomes and principles of evidence-based healthcare should be part of all CAM training

Medical undergraduate students should be exposed to a level of CAM familiarisation

Table 2 House of Lords Select Committee on

Science and Technology Therapy Groupings

Group 1: Professionally organised disciplines with

their own diagnostic approach

Acupuncture

Chiropractic

Herbal medicine

Homeopathy

Osteopathy

Group 2: Therapies which often used to complement

conventional medicine and do not purport to

embrace diagnostic skills

Aromatherapy

Alexander technique

Bodywork therapies including massage

Counselling and stress therapy

Hypnotherapy

Reflexology

Shiatsu

Meditation

Nutritional medicine

Yoga

Group 3: Disciplines which purport to offer diagnostic

information as well as treatment and which, in general,

favour a philosophical approach and are indifferent to

the scientific principles of conventional medicine.

These therapies can be split into two sub-groups

Group 3a: includes long-established and traditional

systems of healthcare

Ayurvedic medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine

Group 3b: covers other alternative disciplines which

lack any credible evidence base

Crystal therapy

Iridology

Radionics

Dowsing

Kinesiology

The history and development of modern-British aromatherapy

139

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Aromatherapy offers huge potential for meeting

healthcare policy-makers demands for encouraging

participative approaches to health, with patient

involvement seen as central, as it is perceived as

being one of the most pleasant and accessible

therapies. The Chair of the National Association

of Primary Care (NAPC), Dr. Peter Smith, speaking

in 2004 described,

an emerging landscape of opportunities for practi-

tioners not previously included in the NHS main-

stream. The stream is set to widen out, and CAM

practitioners should prepare themselves for new

opportunities (Smith, 2004).

Conclusion

A recent census tracked business growth and de-

cline in Britain and found that between 1992 and

2002, aromatherapy listings in the Yellow Pages in-

creased by 5200%. So, although historically most

British aromatherapists have worked outside of

mainstream health care provision, being based

strongly in the private sector, working in natural

health clinics, beauty salons, from their own homes

and offering domiciliary visits, this does look set to

change. From the earliest beginnings with Margue-

rite Maury’s vision of a therapy which holds the se-

crets of health and beauty, aromatherapy in the UK

has come a long way in a short time. Already, over

the past decade aromatherapy has found itself

increasingly accepted into key areas of orthodox

medicine, primarily within palliative care and

oncology departments, mental health units and

maternity services. Although in this article I have

paid tribute to the contributions of many well-

known aromatherapy pioneers, of equal impor-

tance are the many individual therapists that have

worked to establish respected and invaluable pa-

tient services around the country and led aroma-

therapy to the place it holds today in British

healthcare and medicine.

References

Anon, 2000. Available from: http://www.parliament.the-

stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199900/ldselect/ldsctech/123/

12301.htm.

Anon, 2004a. Available from: http://www.a-t-c.org.uk/.

Anon, 2004b. Available from: http://www.christie.nhs.uk/

profinfo/departments/comptherapies/complementary_ther-

apies.htm#aromatherapy.

Maury M. The secret of life and youth. England: C W Daniel Co

Ltd; 1989.

Smith, 2004. Available from: http://www.ihn.org.uk/PDFs/

Reprt%200404.pdf.

Tisserand R. In: The art of aromatherapy. England: C W Daniel

Co Ltd; 1977. p. 1977.

140

J. Bensouilah