The Healing Power of Prayer
The Healing Power of Prayer
From Reader's Digest, December 2004, Page 179
By Jennifer Matlack
Have a little faith -- and lower your risk of depression, heart disease and more.
AFTER undergoing a bone marrow transplant for lymphatic cancer last year, Mike Coyne, 33, of Whitman, Massachusetts, credits his healing to his doctors -- and his faith. Prayer provided him with reassurance that everything would be okay. "It gave me strength and peace," says Coyne. That may be why so many of us turn to faith for healing. According to a National Institutes of Health survey of 31,000 people, prayer is the most commonly used form of alternative medicine.
"Spiritual people tend to be optimistic and have more self-esteem and social support, factors that improve health," says Yale researcher Holly Prigerson. She found that bereaved people who used religion to cope needed fewer doctor visits than those who didn't. Other research has shown that prayer improves heart disease, hypertension and cancer. The idea that faith can heal is controversial, but recent studies report positive findings:
Depression deterrent. In a 2004 Duke University Medical Center study of 838 hospitalized older adults, those who were more religious had fewer symptoms of depression and better cognitive function than patients who were not spiritual. And in another study earlier this year, Yale University School of Medicine doctors reported that poor people in urban areas who believed in a higher power were less likely than their nonspiritual peers to be depressed during hard times.
Heart helper. Doctors at Italy's University of Pavia found that adults who recited the rosary had improved lung and heart function. In a study of 999 cardiac patients from the Mid America Heart Institute of St. Luke's Hospital, those who unknowingly had others praying for them fared better than heart patients who didn't receive intercessory prayers.
Mood enhancer. In a 2004 study at the University of Washington, people who had strong faith were more optimistic before undergoing heart surgery; other studies have shown that prayer promotes healing post-surgery.
posted by Jammie J. @ 10:52 AM
15 comments
15 Comments:
It is strange to me that your research shows that Religious types are more optimistic and have better self esteem as in my experience Atheists are far more likely to show these traits. In fact all the people I have met who have psychological problems and issues with their esteem have been christians. I'm not trying to make a generalization here, and am not saying that all christians are like that, just that in my own personal experience Atheists tend to be far more confident and sure of themselves. Perhaps the research is referring to "weak christians" ie. those who do not have a strong belief.
I have no faith in the power of prayer in the healing process, at least not the anonymous prayer of others, I will however concede that personal prayer and that of friends and family is of use in the healing process, not because of anything spiritual, but in my opinion it is just that the mind has great power over the healing process and the same results can be achieved with positive thought and support from those around you.
As an example of the problem I have with organized religion is that in some churches this concept of healing prayer is taken to the extreme, to the extent that appropriate medical attention is repressed. This to me makes no sense.
Hi Angi, What an amazing life you have led, thank you for sharing your experiences. I know all about cysts and the pain they cause. I had a couple endometrial cysts that burst and were oozing. When I had surgery, they cauterized them. They couldn't remove them without also taking my ovaries. I'm only 34, I want to have children someday ... need ovaries for that.
Redfred, I'm sorry I haven't responded to your previous comment about whether I want you to go away or not. So, let me say "NO" ... please don't go. Maybe you can teach me how to debate? Heh heh!
This really wasn't a topic I was researching, nor did I do the research in this posting. This was an article I ran across in the Reader's Digest while having bunny poop. I think all of us, as humans, have self-esteem, confidence, health, psychological problems or whatever. It's a trait of humanity, not religion or lack thereof. If you and other athiests are in good health, mentally and physically, I suggest you count your blessings. You are very fortunate.
I agree with your statement about some churches taking healing prayer to the extreme. Specifically, Christian Science. My aunt is of that denomination and refuses to seek medical attention for her debilitating arthritis. Her youngest daughter has scoliosis so bad, she has a dowager's hump at the age of 16. I think that's wrong. My aunt blames my uncle because he doesn't believe as she does and therefore there is disharmony in the home which in turn is causing their health problems. It simply makes no sense to me.
My personal experience in crisis has been an enfolding sense of peace after prayer or reading the Bible. It doesn't make my world perfect, but liveable.
Thank you for sharing.
Stuart -- Please feel free to add any thoughts you may have. I appreciate your sensitivity to my initial reaction of withdrawal. Thank you for being here. :)
Hey, Glad you chose to keep me on..... :-)
By "your research" I meant the information you quoted I didn't mean to say that you wrote it, I still stand by my comments with regard to the psyche of the Atheist vs Christian to be clearly contradictory to the Readers Digest quote. I agree somewhat that this is a trait of humanity rather than beliefs, wouldn't be much of an Atheist if I didn't, however, and please don't take this the wrong way, but I have found that people who suffer, physically or mentally, do tend to be more religious than the less disadvantaged. I understand why this is so, at times of stress and difficulty it is nice to be told that there is a reason for what is happening and at the end things will work out just fine, one way or another. If I believed one iota of what these people were being fed I would laud it as commendable, however if you look at it from my point of view, it is difficult to have anything but pity for these people clinging to false hope. I know that you understand how I feel because it is exactly the same as the way you feel about your aunt, it is that kind of frustration at religion that drives me to be as vocal an atheist as I am. your inner peace from Praying can be achieved using yoga or martial arts, does that make these activities worthy of worship?
Stuart,
I agree whole heartedly with your comment, You say 'I don't understand that means it must be God', I say 'I don't understand it must be something that we have not discovered yet'. We are not so dissimilar, but how many times must you be proved wrong before you start to think as I do? So many things that we did not understand 100 years ago that were attributed to divinity have been explained by science, at what point do you concede that there may in fact be no god, and that there just might be a logical explanation that explains everything without trusting in faith.
RedFred,
Formally of England ... :-)
P.S. the bunny poop comment was Way too much information... :-0
RedFred -- LOL re: the way too much info comment.
I don't disagree that inner peace can't be achieved via alternative methods, such as yoga, pilates or meditation. Just as it can successfully be reached by prayer and worship.
I don't understand your comment "I have found that people who suffer, physically or mentally, do tend to be more religious than the less disadvantaged."
I still stick by my view that suffering is a human thing, not a religious thing. How we choose to deal with it is where religion or medicine or both come into play. We do not choose our illnesses. We do not choose our problems. We choose how we react to them.
Here's a rambling thought ... isn't your examination/argument that there is no God and reverse form of worshipping God? I mean, for the sake of discussion, assume that we are "designed" to worship someone/something, if you spend a good portion of your time denying the existence of God, aren't you, in essence worshipping the theory that there is no God?
P.S. I admit to being a butthead re: the "research comment."
Let me explain further my comment "I have found that people who suffer, physically or mentally, do tend to be more religious than the less disadvantaged."
I am not suggesting that Chistian people are more likely to develope physical and mental problems, I am suggesting that people so afflicted are more readily drawn to the church. I think that that is in line with what you said about suffering being a human thing but howwe deal with that suffering is where religion kicks in. This is in clear contradiction of "research" wich tries to suggest that those without faith are more likely to develop illnesses.
Now to rambling, yes, I do not deny that Atheism is a religion to me in some limited respects. however I do not spend a good portion of my time doing this, perhaps quater of an hour here half an hour there and it is as likely to be about religion here on this blog as it is likely to be talking about Marmite with Lisa or politics with Tim. by your reasoning I would , in essance, be worshiping the socialist party and a savory spread. I got the impression that god means a little more to you than that, and that is the distinction between your Theism and my Atheism.
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Stuart...... why do I feel that I am walking into some kind of spritual trap? perhaps it's a warning sign when a person who belives in something based ultimatly on faith uses the word "Reasoned" twice in one sentance..... Fist off, I do not contend that the cause of someone switching from Atheism to Theism has to be rational at all, but lets assume for the purpose of this "discussion" that I concede your point go ahead, just don't start talking about grains of sand on a beach.......
Just know that I did not start posting here to change your view on religion, just because I pity you does not mean I care how you spend your free time.
Hey Redfred, I had a curiousness this morning whether you believe in Satan or not? How does your belief work ... you don't believe there's a God, so do you believe in the opposite force? Or do you think that spirituality, in the sense of good and evil, just don't exist?
No I do not believe in Satan either, I don't believe in angels, ghosts or alien abduction. This does not mean I don't have a concept of good and evil, it does not mean I am amoral. I do not believe that we have a spirit that will live on once our body dies, in my opinion the conciousness dies with the body when the neurons stop fireing in the brain after death. The decision of wether to be good or evil is for he most part a result of the thought process of that conciousness and there is no supernatural influence one way or another.
:-) those removed comments make me look bad!!! just like to clarify that they were duplicate posts not outrageous comments! Just in case some one else comes in and thinks I'm a troublemaker.
RedFred, You? A troublemaker? Im-poss-ible! (Never mind that you FORCED Lisa to try marmite.)
To the other, do you believe then, as dynebolic does, that the reason we are here is for children? If not, then why? Again, just curious.
:-) Lisa obviously didn't spread it right, as Marmite is perhaps the best arguement for the existance of god... ::: Twisted grin ::::
I certainly don't believe that we were put on earth for a purpose, just like every animal we have certain drives that lead us to behave the way we do because if we didn't we would have died out long long ago.
While we are here, I have a question for you or any other officionado on the subject... does the bible indicate a time line for when god created man? I always kinda assumed that it was hundreds of thousands of years ago, but recently I read somewhere that it says it was about 5000BC do you know if this is valid? This is not some kind lead into a rebutal of the bible I genuinely am interested.
Hi RedFred (why do I always type Redrefd or Redred) ... anyway, I don't know the answer to your question, but this website says about 6,000 years ago ...
Don't know why you struggle with redfred, it's a little circle, try typing with one finger!
Thanks for the info on Creationism, I did not know that... Raises even more questions for me, but like I said, this wasn't an opening for a bash.
Are you a creationist? Do you belive in the bible, litrally?
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