Shamanic Healing for Women with TMD

描述（由申请人提供）：传统的治疗系统，如萨满教，不容易适用于传统的研究方法，然而，研究它们的有效性在涉及情感成分的慢性疾病的情况下是特别重要的，并且避免了对抗疗法的治疗方案。颞下颌关节紊乱（TMDs），影响高达10%的成年人，是这种情况的一个主要例子。TMD疼痛的传统治疗结果往往不令人满意。此外，在25-55岁的女性（受影响最大的年龄-性别群体）中，TMD通常与抑郁、焦虑、睡眠障碍、胃肠道症状、频繁感染和纤维肌视症有关。因为这些多重和复杂的症状表明精神或生命能量的丧失，他们可能特别容易受到萨满（精神）治疗的影响，其目的是使受干扰的身体，精神和情感系统达到平衡。俄勒冈补充和替代医学研究中心（I- p50 - at00076）正在进行两项临床试验，以评估TMD的替代方法。这项第一阶段研究建议开发方法来评估萨满治疗作为TMD的干预措施，并评估进行萨满治疗的随机临床试验的可行性。

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.