The doctor spoke about the connection between the love of strange smells and mental illness

Unusual fragrance preferences — for example, the smell of gasoline or nail polish — can be quite harmless, but sometimes they talk about mental problems. On August 6, Ekaterina Demyanovskaya, an expert at the Hemotest Laboratory and a neurologist, told Izvestia what disorders a craving for strange odors might be.

The sense of smell is one of the most important senses that can awaken pleasant memories, evoke various emotions, remind you that it's time to refresh yourself, and even warn you of danger. A complex olfactory, or, in scientific terms, olfactory, system is responsible for the perception of odors.

"First, olfactory cells detect the smell: molecules of odorous substances dissolve in the secretion of olfactory neurons, then "cling" to their cilia. And this serves as a signal for the activation of sensitive cells," explains Demyanovskaya.

According to olfactory nerves, information about the fragrance is transmitted in the form of a bioelectric pulse, first to the olfactory bulbs, and then to the olfactory nucleus, which is located in the lower part of the frontal lobe of the brain, just above the bridge of the nose. This area has extensive connections with other areas of the brain, cortical and subcortical.

"Every time we smell something, a lot of complex work takes place in the brain: one area of the brain recognizes the smell, another connects it with memories and creates associations, the third "decides" whether it is a pleasant smell or not. Let's say a person inhales the aroma of freshly baked bread — the brain processes this information, as a result, the appetite wakes up. And if you inhale a pungent chemical odor, you reflexively want to pull your head back, hold your nose, and leave this place, or a gag reflex may trigger an unpleasant odor," the expert added.

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In general, the olfactory system works the same for everyone and the reaction to many odors is predictable. But sometimes there is a glitch: various violations of the sense of smell occur in about 20% of people. Olfactory dysfunction is one of the markers of ENT diseases, respiratory infections, and even various neurological and mental disorders.

According to the doctor, the sense of smell often changes in people with increased anxiety, parosmia also occurs in depression, schizophrenia, hysterical personality disorder, and bipolar affective disorder. In a state of emotional depression, sensory perception is generally blunted and distorted: it can be difficult for a person to understand what smells like, and pleasant scents seem disgusting. So, a common symptom of depression is hyposmia, decreased sensitivity to odors.

Or, on the contrary, a person suddenly begins to like some pungent odors — gasoline, acetone, varnish. According to one hypothesis, such olfactory addictions are an attempt by the body to "shake" emotions, to pull the psyche out of stupor. Even a small but constant anxiety can cause violations of the sense of smell, as the development of anxiety affects various sensory analyzers: for example, familiar sounds and smells can irritate.

In addition, olfactory hallucinations occur in about 30-45% of patients with schizophrenia. This disease is characterized by olfactory hallucinations — a person feels a smell that does not exist. For example, he may constantly feel that he smells rot, something else unpleasant - this is called cacosmia — or he may be afraid of the sudden smell of burning wiring, although in fact everything is fine and does not smell like anything. There may also be a distorted perception of odors — neutral or pleasant scents seem nasty, repulsive.

"There are many explanations for why this happens: the sense of smell can be affected by an imbalance of mediators in the brain, aseptic neuroinflammation, "broken" connections between brain regions, cognitive distortions. That is, in schizophrenia, the brain often misperforms the world around it as a whole, and a person understands it as if they are looking through broken glass," the doctor comments.

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It is worth worrying about the strange perception of smell if the changes appear suddenly, for no apparent reason, accompany a person constantly and are combined with other symptoms. It is worth contacting a doctor if a person has changed dramatically: he has become withdrawn, apathetic, lethargic, or, conversely, behaves abruptly, aggressively. In the case of schizophrenia, visual, auditory, and sensory hallucinations are often added to olfactory hallucinations. In epilepsy or migraines, olfactory hallucinations may be part of the aura before another attack.

It is also worth knowing that the appearance of strange addictions to smell or decreased sense of smell may indicate a deficiency of various micronutrients or pregnancy.

"Zinc deficiency often leads to decreased sensitivity to odors. The fact is that this mineral is part of the enzymes that are involved in the work of olfactory receptors. In addition, it affects the work of neurotransmitters that ensure the normal transmission of nerve impulses, including olfactory ones. And the desire to smell something with a pungent odor - gasoline or acetone — is typical for some patients with iron deficiency anemia," the doctor summarizes.

Anemia of pregnant women is also often accompanied by parosmia, which can be combined with the desire to eat something inedible — chalk, clay. So in the absence of signs of psychopathology, first of all, when craving for strange smells, it is worth excluding more harmless causes.

On August 2, Demyanovskaya told Izvestia that olfactory hallucinations are one of the symptoms of epilepsy, but they can also be a sign of other diseases. She noted that approximately 15% of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy initially go to the doctor complaining of sudden strange odors that precede typical epileptic seizures.

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