"shamanic practice. The latter, she maintains, is based on a complex, multi-tiered metaphysics whereby cause and effect relations beyond the visible material world are deliberately exploited by the shaman."

Yeah ok

I didn't bother reading this in details, but from what I've seen it seems like a same argument as "an homeopath makes people feel better because they talk to people nicely and makes them feel heard so it's not just placebo".

There's not really any point in trying to support religious magic healing at this point. People already believe in a gigantic amount of scam and have no critical thinking, and you start debating about the exact definition of what is a placebo effect even though it's one of the only few bits of "critical thinking" knowledge that people have?

Nah, that's absurd bullshit.

Saved you a click: Author believes calling it a placebo is wrong because shamans are actual magic. Erm, I mean metaphysics. And a whole lot of waffling about what exactly the definition of placebo is.

The way that headline was written I was expecting some discussion about the pageantry, actual folk medicine in use, and perhaps some stuff about the role of shamans in their community.