Best Essential Oils for Social Anxiety, Insomnia, and Depression

Essential Oils That Help with Anxiety

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Are you interested in essential oils for social anxiety?

Essential oils are used as part of aromatherapy, which is a natural treatment for anxiety. They are created from plant sources such as roots, seeds, leaves, and flowers of various plants.

Aromatherapy isn’t just some crazy fad either—there is research evidence to support its effectiveness for issues such as depression, anxiety, and stress.

So, if you are experiencing anxiety related to social and performance situations, essential oils can help you to feel calm and relaxed.

The best essential oils for social anxiety have a calming effect, such as lavender and chamomile.

In addition, if you use these repeatedly over time, eventually your mind will naturally associate the scents with feeling relaxed.

To use essential oils, you can do any of the following:

put them directly on your skin using a carrier oil
inhale them directly (from a tissue, or using aromatherapy jewelry)
spread them in a mist (using an oil burner or a diffuser)
put some drops into a bath
use them as part of a massage

When you purchase essential oils they are in a concentrated form and will need to be diluted for certain uses.

For example, to use on your skin, you would dilute oils with a carrier oil like sweet almond oil). Use a ratio of about 5 drops of the essential oil to 10 ml of the carrier oil.

Or, you can purchase a roll-on version of the essential oil that is ready for use directly on your skin.

Let’s take a look at the different essential oils and which ones you might choose if you have social anxiety.

Bergamot

Bergamot essential oil has a citrusy aroma, since it comes from bergamot oranges. Research also shows that it may help to relieve anxiety and also depressed mood.

So, this might be a good choice if you’ve been feeling down in addition to anxious.

Cedarwood

If you love the smell of cedar trees, then you’ll probably also like the scent of cedarwood essential oil! In addition, if you have anxiety, cedarwood oil has been shown to have a soothing effect on your mood.

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So, if your anxiety tends to go along with stress and mood fluctuations, cedarwood oil could be a good choice for you.

Frankincense

Frankincense essential oil has a sweet and earthy scent as it is made from the resin of the Boswellia tree.

Research has shown that when combined with bergamot and lavender, this essential oil helped to reduce anxiety, depression, and pain in those with terminal cancer.

Neroli

Neroli essential oil, also known as orange blossom oil, is extracted from the flowers of bitter orange trees, giving it a citrusy floral scent that is used in many products including perfume, lotion, and cosmetics.

Neroli has also been shown to help reduce anxiety, depression, and PMS symptoms, so it may be a good choice if any of those overlap for you.

Sandalwood

Ylang Ylang

Ylang ylang is a floral-scented essential oil that has been shown to help lower stress, anxiety, blood pressure, serum cortisol, and heart rate when combined with lavender and bergamot.

Chamomile

You’ve probably heard of chamomile tea, but did you know there is also chamomile essential oil?

Just like the tea, chamomile essential oil may help you to relax, unwind, and feel less anxious. In fact, research has shown that chamomile supplements may help reduce anxiety in those with generalized anxiety disorder.

Lavender

Lavender is probably the most well-known aromatherapy product to help with anxiety. Research has shown that it is thought to calm your nerves by acting on your limbic system, which is involved in the control of your emotions.

Clary Sage

Clary sage has a woodsy scent and is thought to help ease tension and lower cortisol. When cortisol is increased this causes you to feel stress, so it’s easy to understand how this essential oil could help to reduce anxiety.

Peppermint

Jasmine

Jasmine essential oil is a floral scent that can help calm your nervous system without making you sleepy. This makes it a good choice to use in the morning or during the day. Research has shown that inhaling jasmine leads to a feeling of well-being.

Orange

Essential Oil Blends

I love essential oil blends, because the company has created a mixture of oils for specific puproses like reducing anxiety, easing irritability, or giving you energy.

Below are some of my favorites.

I love the company Frankie & Myrrh for the funny names they give their scents.

I ordered the spray version of the first one on the list below, and they sent me an email saying “your odor is on it’s way.” They are just cute.

Diffusers

If you aren’t sure what type of diffuser to buy, I recommend any from Nordstrom’s Serene House line of diffusers because they also provide a nice glow (particularly nice during the holidays!).

The Starlight is for spaces up to 150 square feet and the Supernova for spaces up to 450 square feet.

However, if you have a large open floor plan like I do, you may find that the Starlight is all you need to diffuse within your main living area.

If you are purchasing essential oils, it is important to look for companies that sell therapeutic-grade products or pure essential oils.

However, it’s also important to remember that the FDA does not regulate these products. As far as their safety, essential oils are not regulated by the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This means that there are no standards for testing and no guarantee about the safety or ingredients of what you buy.

In other words, you’re on your own to pick a company you trust to sell you the highest grade essential oils.

Companies are not held to any particular standard, so it is up to you to decide whether you trust the claims that they make.

Some brands that I know to be reputable include Young Living, Doterra, Plant Therapy, Edens Garden, and Revive.

What types of essential oils are your favorites? Let me know in the comments below.

12 Best Essential Oils for Social Anxiety