For women with temporomandibular joint disorders (TMDs) who had not responded to standard medical care, shamanic healing led to improvements in usual pain, worst pain, and functional impairment that persisted unchanged for nine months after treatment ended. The study followed 23 women aged 25 to 55 in Portland, Oregon, who reported their pain and disability at one, three, six, and nine months after treatment. The lasting effects suggest that shamanic healing may benefit individuals with TMDs who are highly responsive to external stressors and have psychosocial difficulties, described from a shamanic perspective as 'dispirited.'
Women with temporomandibular joint disorders who received shamanic treatment reported more changes in self-awareness, coping, relationships, and self-care than physical symptom relief, describing a process of transformation. In-depth interviews with 20 participants revealed that three times as much interview text focused on psychological and relational changes compared to physical changes. Some physical and psychological symptoms aligned with the shamanic concept of soul loss. This was the first clinical trial of shamanic healing for TMD pain, using a mixed-methods approach to capture a wide range of experiences.