|
The Amazing Power of Prayer ...
|
View this Thread in Original format
| occrider |
Oops, there is none.
| quote: |
Prayer's Power to Heal Strangers Is Examined
Cardiac Patients in New Study Fared No Better With Spiritual Intercession
By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 15, 2005; Page A08
Praying for sick strangers does not improve their prospects of recovering, according to a large, carefully designed study that casts doubt on the widely held belief that being prayed for can help a person heal.
The study of more than 700 heart patients, one of the most ambitious attempts to test the medicinal power of prayer, showed that those who had people praying for them from a distance, and without their knowledge, were no less likely to suffer a major complication, end up back in the hospital or die.
While skeptics of prayer welcomed the results, other researchers questioned the findings, and proponents of prayer maintained that God's influence lies beyond the reach of scientific validation.
Surveys have shown that millions of Americans routinely pray when they are ill or when someone they know is. A growing body of evidence has found that religious people tend to be healthier than average, and that people who pray when they are ill are likely to fare better than those who do not. Many researchers think religious belief and practice can help people by providing social support and fostering positive emotions, which may produce beneficial responses by the body.
But the idea that praying for someone else -- even when he or she is unaware of it -- can affect a person's health has been much more controversial. Several studies have purported to show that such prayer is beneficial, but they have been criticized as deeply flawed. The debate prompted a spate of new studies aimed at avoiding those shortcomings, including the new study, which is the first to test prayer at multiple centers.
For the Mantra II study, Mitchell W. Krucoff, a cardiologist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., and his colleagues designed an experiment involving 748 patients who underwent treatment for heart problems at nine hospitals around the country between 1999 and 2002.
The researchers enlisted 12 congregations of various Christian denominations, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists around the world to pray for some of the patients, giving them names, ages and descriptions of the illness. The researchers then divided the patients into four groups. The first quarter had people praying for them. The second quarter received a nontraditional treatment known as music, imagery and touch (MIT) therapy, which involved breathing techniques, soothing music, touch and other ways to relieve stress, such as calming mental images. The third group received both prayer and MIT, while the fourth received nothing.
In the final year of the study, the researchers took the additional step of asking more religious congregations to pray for the prayers of the initial group to work. Neither the patients nor their doctors knew whether someone was praying for them. The prayers varied depending on the religion, lasting between six and 30 days.
The researchers then followed all the patients for six months to see which patients suffered serious complications, were re-hospitalized or died from heart problems. Overall, there was no difference among the four groups, the researchers report in Saturday's issue of the Lancet medical journal.
The researchers did find evidence, however, suggesting that those receiving the MIT therapy experienced less distress before their procedures, and those who received both MIT therapy and the "high-dose" prayer may have been slightly less likely to die in the following six months. Those findings provide avenues for future research, Krucoff said.
The researchers acknowledged that it was impossible to make any firm conclusions because of the difficulty of studying something such as prayer. The study, for example, could not accurately measure factors as fundamental as the "dose" of prayer administered and could not account for the possible effects of family members praying for patients on their own, the researchers noted.
"I really don't want people to think we're dissing prayer," Krucoff said. "This study gives us a sense of where there might be therapeutic benefit that might be worth pursuing in future trials."
Skeptics, however, said they were far from surprised by the findings.
"There's nothing that we know in the universe that could account for how prayer or the healing intention of one group of people could influence the health outcomes of another group at a distance," said Richard P. Sloan, a professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. "It's preposterous."
But the Rev. Raymond J. Lawrence, director of pastoral care at New York Presbyterian Hospital, disputed any suggestion that the study disproved the power of prayer.
"Prayer can be and is helpful," Lawrence said. "But to think that you can research it is inconceivable to me. Prayer is presumably a way of addressing God, and there's no way to scientifically test God. God is not subject to scientific research."
Marilyn Schlitz of the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Petaluma, Calif., said the study showed the need for additional research. She is conducting a federally funded study testing the power of prayer to help wounds heal.
"The fact that the vast majority of people in this country make use of prayer or some type of compassionate intention really demands that we look at these phenomena with rigorous scientific perspective," she said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...5071401695.html
|
|
|
|
| prolikewhoa |
prayer is a way of feeling like there's a positive force behind you, wanting things to go well for you. if someone knows they're being prayed for, not only do they feel loved, but they feel almost as if someone's rooting for them. humans have undocumented strength within them. take for instance...some people are able to perform outrageous acts they wouldn't normally be capable of when given the right inspiration. the only example i can think of is from a movie, but bear with me. when the russians handcuff connor (sean patrick flanery) to the toilet and say they're going to kill murphy (norman reedus), his brother, he is able to lift the porcelin toilet off the ground, climb out of the window (all the while still handcuffed and bleeding severely), and drop the toilet on the russian's head. i know this is a movie, but you hear of instances like this...where strong emotion...such as experienced when a mother wants to save her child...where people can do extraordinary things. i'm sure if you can tap into strength like that from an emotion or fear, you can probably use it to heal your own body. our bodies and minds are capable of things we don't even realize. a human's instincts don't have to come in to play as much these days, if you live with a roof over your head, and all the necessary means for survival are provided. when people are put in dangerous situations, they can surprise even themselves with their instincts and capabilities. i think this greatly ties into prayer. if a person wants to believe something badly enough, they will...and if something positive happens, it's easy to assign credit to prayer. that's why prayer only works when you KNOW you're being prayed for.
i don't know if that will make sense to anyone else...but whatever. |
|
|
| occrider |
| quote: | Originally posted by prolikewhoa
prayer is a way of feeling like there's a positive force behind you, wanting things to go well for you. if someone knows they're being prayed for, not only do they feel loved, but they feel almost as if someone's rooting for them. humans have undocumented strength within them. take for instance...some people are able to perform outrageous acts they wouldn't normally be capable of when given the right inspiration. the only example i can think of is from a movie, but bear with me. when the russians handcuff connor (sean patrick flanery) to the toilet and say they're going to kill murphy (norman reedus), his brother, he is able to lift the porcelin toilet off the ground, climb out of the window (all the while still handcuffed and bleeding severely), and drop the toilet on the russian's head. i know this is a movie, but you hear of instances like this...where strong emotion...such as experienced when a mother wants to save her child...where people can do extraordinary things. i'm sure if you can tap into strength like that from an emotion or fear, you can probably use it to heal your own body. our bodies and minds are capable of things we don't even realize. a human's instincts don't have to come in to play as much these days, if you live with a roof over your head, and all the necessary means for survival are provided. when people are put in dangerous situations, they can surprise even themselves with their instincts and capabilities. i think this greatly ties into prayer. if a person wants to believe something badly enough, they will...and if something positive happens, it's easy to assign credit to prayer. that's why prayer only works when you KNOW you're being prayed for.
i don't know if that will make sense to anyone else...but whatever. |
Yes, however, everything you pointed out has absolutely nothing to do with divine intervention ... the intent of prayer. In other words, according to your theory, technically I could read the dictionary to someone and they could be so moved by it that they would acheive a miraculous recovery, and it would be as effective as prayer. |
|
|
| prolikewhoa |
| quote: | Originally posted by occrider
Yes, however, everything you pointed out has absolutely nothing to do with divine intervention ... the intent of prayer. |
i'm saying that it doesn't exist. it's people who work the miracles. |
|
|
| Clovis86 |
| quote: | Originally posted by occrider
Yes, however, everything you pointed out has absolutely nothing to do with divine intervention ... the intent of prayer. |
You could just "Hope someone gets well" |
|
|
| occrider |
| quote: | Originally posted by Clovis86
You could just "Hope someone gets well" |
That's not the same as prayer however. That would be providing mental support to an individual which may have tangible benefits. |
|
|
| Mebot |
I read this article this morning.
What about the placebo effect? or did the patients not even know about the study? |
|
|
| occrider |
| quote: | Originally posted by Mebot
I read this article this morning.
What about the placebo effect? or did the patients not even know about the study? |
Neither the patients nor doctors knew people were praying for them. |
|
|
| Clovis86 |
| quote: | Originally posted by occrider
That's not the same as prayer however. That would be providing mental support to an individual which may have tangible benefits. |
I know...thats what I meant. Instead of "praying" you can offer the same support without involving religion/God |
|
|
| Mebot |
Behold the mystery of faith. Hallelujah.
I might have to think twice about those evangelists who can "purge" demons and evil from people. and then the people scream and faint and cry. |
|
|
| occrider |
| quote: | Originally posted by Clovis86
I know...thats what I meant. Instead of "praying" you can offer the same support without involving religion/God |
Right. The study doesn't examine the effect of mental support in helping a patient heal. They probably have done studies showing that patients who have a lot of support from family, friends, and have good mental support in general, perform better in recovering. I'm sure it helps to limit stress, blood pressure, and a hundred other things which translate to better health. This study in particular examines the power of prayer in and of itself. And it seems to indicate, that prayer doesn't do squat. |
|
|
| ierxium |
Maybe the gods knew it was an experiment and did not want to participate.
Plus, and this is just to make the post longer, having just the name, age and description of the illness is not enough. Anyone who says otherwise is blind. I would use Jesus as an example to prove some type of point but then this would get a bit nasty.
|
|
|
|
|
