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Shamanism MeSH Descriptor Data 2025


MeSH Heading
Shamanism
Tree Number(s)
E02.190.488.830
E02.190.901.788
I01.076.201.450.654.830
Unique ID
D019423
RDF Unique Identifier
http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D019423
Annotation
a form of traditional medicine; specify geog; not for African witch doctors: use instead MEDICINE, AFRICAN TRADITIONAL
Scope Note
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)
Previous Indexing
Medicine, Traditional (1970-1996)
See Also
Traditional Medicine Practitioners
Public MeSH Note
97
History Note
97
Date Established
1997/01/01
Date of Entry
1996/06/10
Revision Date
2022/07/12

Allowable Qualifiers
Shamanism Preferred
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