Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques, and Equipment

Shamanism

An intermediate stage between polytheism and monotheism, which assumes a Great Spirit, with lesser deities subordinated. With the beginnings of shamanism there was the advent of the medicine man or witch doctor, who assumed a supervisory relation to disease and its cure. Formally, shamanism is a religion of Ural-Altaic peoples of Northern Asia and Europe, characterized by the belief that the unseen world of gods, demons, ancestral spirits is responsive only to shamans. The Indians of North and South America entertain religious practices similar to the Ural-Altaic shamanism. The word shaman comes from the Tungusic (Manchuria and Siberia) saman, meaning Buddhist monk. The SHAMAN handles disease almost entirely by psychotherapeutic means; he frightens away the demons of disease by assuming a terrifying mien. (From Garrison, An Introduction to the History of Medicine, 4th ed, p22; from Webster, 3d ed)

National Library of MedicineMedical Subject Headings2026

Structured Summary

Abstract

An intermediate stage between polytheism and monotheism, which assumes a Great Spirit, with lesser deities subordinated. With the beginnings of shamanism there was the advent of the medicine man or witch doctor, who assumed a supervisory relation to disease and its cure. Formally, shamanism is a religion of Ural-Altaic peoples of Northern Asia and Europe, characterized by the belief that the unseen world of gods, demons, ancestral spirits is responsive only to shamans. The Indians of North and South America entertain religious practices similar to the Ural-Altaic shamanism. The word shaman comes from the Tungusic (Manchuria and Siberia) saman, meaning Buddhist monk. The SHAMAN handles disease almost entirely by psychotherapeutic means; he frightens away the demons of disease by assuming a terrifying mien. (From Garrison, An Introduction to the History of Medicine, 4th ed, p22; from Webster, 3d ed)

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Aspects Covered

1 allowable subheadings

Indexed with the subheadings history.

MeSH Record

Indexing Annotation

a form of traditional medicine; specify geog; not for African witch doctors: use instead MEDICINE, AFRICAN TRADITIONAL

MeSH Record

History Note

97

MeSH Record

Previous Indexing

  • Medicine, Traditional (1970-1996)

MeSH Hierarchy

Tree Numbers

  1. E02w.190.488w.830w
  2. E02w.190.901.788w
  3. I01w.076w.201w.450w.654w.830w

AMA Style

References

  1. National Library of Medicine. Shamanism. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). 2026. Unique ID D019423. http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2026/D019423
  2. Shamanism. In: Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism
  3. Shamanism. In: Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q42042