From pickle juice to chemosensation: A discussion on the interoceptive/homeostatic reset system for interventions in dissociation and trauma-related dysregulation

Abstract

This article explores a variety of chemosensory strategies – pungent foods, ammonia salts, and essential oils – as potentially useful interventions for clinical states of dissociative shutdown (including functional/dissociative seizures); re-experiencing symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder; and other states involving changes in arousal and a loss of balance in the neural pathways or networks crucial for the processing and integration of somatic, or body-based, sensations, as a result of stress-system dysregulation or trauma-related experiences. All of these states are common in clinical practice. Patients find them distressing as they interfere with normal daily function, quality of life, and capacity to manage the daily challenges of life. Based on the current literature we, the authors, provide an update pertaining to the current knowledge base about the neurobiology that underlies the therapeutic effects and clinical utility of these chemosensory substances. Whilst the use of chemosensory substances goes back into antiquity, our understanding of underlying neurobiological mechanisms is just beginning to emerge.