Shamanic Healing for Women with TMD

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Traditional systems of healing, such as shamanism, do not readily lend themselves to conventional research methods, yet studying their effectiveness is especially germane in the case of chronic conditions that involve an emotional component and that elude allopathic treatment regimes. Temporomandibular joint disorders (TMDs), which affect up to 10% of the adult population, are a prime example of such conditions. Traditional treatment outcomes for TMD pain are often unsatisfactory. Moreover, in women age 25-55 (the age-sex group most affected), TMD is often found in association with depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, gastrointestinal symptoms, frequent infections, and fibromyaigia. Because these multiple and complex symptoms suggest a loss of spirit or life energy, they may be particularly susceptible to treatment by shamanic (spiritual) healing, which aims to bring disturbed physical, mental, and emotional systems into balance. In conjunction with the Oregon Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research (I-P50-AT00076), which is conducting two clinical trials to evaluate alternative approaches to TMD, this Phase I study proposes to develop methods to evaluate shamanic healing as an intervention for TMD and to evaluate the feasibility of conducting randomized clinical trials of shamanic healing. The proposed research will 1) design a protocol for implementing a shamanic healing intervention that could be used in future clinical trials, including recruitment strategies, data collection instruments and procedures, and shamanic healing protocols; 2) implement a single-arm, pre-post design protocol with 25 women with TMD, evaluating willingness to participate, acceptability to participants and shamanic practitioners, feasibility of data collection, and analysis strategies; 3) evaluate the outcomes of the treatment for the participants, including clinical and self-report measures of TMD-related pain and disability, change in other symptoms, and safety; and 4) evaluate the content of shamanism as a healing system including how to identify "similar diagnoses," to estimate the consistency of shamanic diagnoses by different shamanic practitioners on the same patient. The successful completion of these aims will contribute procedures, methods, and data that will lead to a competitive R01 application.