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.'
Psychedelic and empathogenic compounds hold therapeutic potential but are expensive and complex to study, with significant safety concerns. This review examines eight late-phase medicinal psychedelic studies in the FDA approval pipeline, including the FDA's denial of Lykos Therapeutics' New Drug Application for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. It also discusses California legislative proposals to legalize psychedelic compounds for adult use as a cheaper alternative, though these proposals lack thorough drug safety evaluation. The authors argue that the FDA should remain the appropriate agency to evaluate and approve these therapeutics.