The practise of shamanism is present in various religions and cultures across the globe. Once regarded as a predominant healing method, in which the practitioner claims to have channelled some form of higher spiritual energy, shamanism is a discipline that has been followed closely by many scholars from a wide range of disciplines. And although it is not as prevalent in the modern world, it is claimed to be one of the oldest therapeutic approaches for healing.

In ancient Nepali healing practices, shamans are said to identify the source of the illnesses by feeling the pulse of the patient, chanting divine mantras, identifying natural vibes or through other peculiar means. After identifying the source of the ailment, clients are offered available herbal medicines by the shamans.

While studying the cognitive and evolutionary approach to shamanism, Harvard anthropologist Manvir Singh linked this process of spiritual healing to a cultural evolutionary process describing it as “a psychologically appealing method for controlling uncertainty”.

In other words, it induces a kind of placebo effect on the recipient of the healing process. And it’s because of this psychosomatic phenomenon that the patient witnesses that he observes gradual improvement within their body due to inner belief and expectations, rather than the treatment itself.

The methods and processes during a shamanic healing process is not short of controversies. But regardless of its ties with superstition, some regard it as a process of healing the human body through the mind where the recipients are themselves involved in the healing process. Although many who believe in the shamanic healing methods may not be aware of the placebo effect, its continuity demands more research into it.

But what makes the spiritual healing so influential? Medical science has no precise answer. Medicine has experts for all odds and ends of the human body except placebo, because it lacks empirical understanding for acclimating placebo effect in the institutional domain.

Medical study regards all living creatures as sophisticated machines, organs as spare parts, infection as malfunction, which needs either correction or replacement. In the medical world, disease is a biochemical abnormality, which needs to be cured by chemical means. Any other procedure beyond biochemistry realm are regarded as non-scientific.

So, biochemistry always ignores placebo and attributes its effect to superstition, spirit and meta-physical misconception.

According to the placebo discourse, however, there are three bases in which placebo effect functions—culture, meaning and belief. In every culture, no matter how primitive or modern, there exists someone labelled as the ‘healer’. And there remains an assumption that these healers are specialists who have the power or are qualified to heal—which means it’s not only the act of the healer but also the faith of the sick towards a healer’s credibility.

To give credit to this process, some research papers have even started to describe the pre-operative formalities in hospital as a sort of modern shamanic ritual. In many hospitals, doctors have also been using sugar pills as a form of placebo healing. The study carried out by researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Southampton found that 97 percent of doctors have prescribed placebo treatments.

In Nepal, owing to the thriving practice of alternative healing, extensive research incorporating some relevant shamanic techniques in the medical field needs to be conducted. Since our country not only possesses ancient knowledge of cosmic healing and natural remedies but also vaults rare herbal medicine, it can open new doors to natural healing remedies.