Kambô: A Shamanic Medicine - Personal Testimonies
Juniper Online Journal of Case Studies September 7, 2018 DOI: 10.19080/jojcs.2018.08.555739 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Shamanism |
| Citations | 14 |
| Key findings | The authors present the history and context of Kambô use and case studies based on personal testimonies, describing acute effects such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and facial swelling that occur within minutes and last a few hours, followed by reports of rejuvenation and claimed long-lasting health benefits. They argue that the growing use of this shamanic intervention signals consumer dissatisfaction with Western medicine. |
Abstract
Since the beginning of this century more and more people in Europe and USA make use of a shamanic product based on the secretion of an Amazonian frog, the Phyllomedusa bicolor.This secretion contains a great number of bio-active peptides and is administered in a ritual via a fresh burn created on the skin of forearm or leg.The desired effects are related to acute intoxication and consist amongst others of nausea and vomiting, diarrhea and swelling of the face as in Quinke's edema.These effects occur within minutes after the inoculation with the secretion and last mostly for few hours.After this intense period people feel rejuvenated and many participants of the cleansing ritual claim long lasting positive effects for their health.We present the history and context of Kambô use and some case-studies based on personal testimonies.Clearly the increasing use of a shamanic intervention as Kambô is also an expression and a signal of the dissatisfaction of consumers with the results of Western medicine.
Comparable studies
Other case reports and case series on shamanism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brain changes during a shamanic trance: Altered modes of consciousness, hemispheric laterality, and systemic psychobiology A normal subject with extensive training in the Mongolian shamanic tradition | 2017 | Case study | n = 1 |
| The Diaspora of Brazilian Religions | 2013 | Ethnographic case studies | |
| Transformation in Dang-ki Healing: The Embodied Self and Perceived Legitimacy. A male dang-ki, 10 temple assistants, and 9 clients at a shrine in Singapore | 2016 | Case study | n = 20 |
| (Neo)Shamanic Dialogues Members of a Guarani Indian village on the Atlantic coast of Santa Catarina, Brazil | 2012 | Case study | |
| Shamanic Healing for Veterans with PTSD: A Case Series. Veterans with PTSD | 2017 | Case series | n = 6 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 5
- Connected to the spirit of the frog: An Internet-based survey on Kambô, the secretion of the Amazonian Giant Maki Frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor): Motivations for use, settings and subjective experiences Journal of Psychopharmacology March 4, 2021
- Acute and subacute psychoactive effects of Kambô, the secretion of the Amazonian Giant Maki Frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor): retrospective reports Scientific Reports December 9, 2020
- Blue Nile Flower Rituals from the Perspective of Transpersonal Psychology - The Role of Nuciferine and its Putative Value as an Antipsychotic Drug Edelweiss Psychiatry Open Access November 19, 2018
- Is Kambô psychoactive? Acute and subacute effects of the secretion of the Giant Maki Frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor) on human consciousness bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) July 24, 2020
- Transformative Psychopharmacology: the Case of 5-Methoxy-N,N-Dimethyltryptamine International Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research January 2, 2019