Prayer Under A Microscope
An interesting — and clearly controversial — study initiated by Duke University researchers:
From The Baltimore Sun:
Scientists enlist the help of religious groups in an effort to measure the healing power of faith from afar.
...Most take it on faith that their prayers make a difference. But now a handful of researchers are wondering: Do prayers from afar really have the power to heal? To find out, scientists at some of the country's leading universities and hospitals are enlisting the help of religious groups to pray for people with AIDS, brain tumors and other illnesses. The Carmelites were among two dozen religious groups recruited by Duke University researchers studying the effect of distant prayer on heart disease.
Not surprisingly, the research has been highly controversial.
...Studies of prayer have also irritated some theologians, who question whether it's appropriate - or medically useful - to put God under the microscope.
"Let's say that we show it has no effect - are we now going to tell people to stop praying?" asks Jeffrey Bishop, a physician, Episcopal priest and co-author of a critique of prayer studies in the Dec. 18 issue of the British medical journal BMJ. "If we show that prayer works, are we going to start writing prescriptions for prayer?"
From BBC News:
...A study found those who were prayed for were as likely to have a setback in hospital, be re-admitted, or die within six months as those not prayed for. The Duke University Medical Center study of 700 patients, in the Lancet, said music, image and touch therapy did appear to reduce patients' distress. ...Heart experts said patients could benefit from feeling more optimistic. ...Further evidence is emerging that people with a more positive outlook appear to be less affected by stressful events, such as having surgery.
...This study looked at 700 patients undergoing angiograms (an X-ray of the blood vessels) or other heart operations at nine hospitals across the US. Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist prayer groups were assigned to pray for 371 of the patients. The rest had no prayer group. In addition, 374 of the patients were assigned MIT therapy and the rest none. MIT involved teaching the patients relaxed breathing techniques and playing them easy listening, classical, or country music during their procedure. The researchers found that neither therapy alone, or combined, showed any measurable treatment effect on serious cardiovascular events, hospital readmission or death. But those given music, imagery and touch therapy had less emotional distress and had a lower death rate after six months, though this was not seen as statistically significant.
...A Lancet editorial on the paper said it would be premature to rule out the use of such therapies in modern medicine. It added: "The contribution that hope and belief make to a personal understanding of illness cannot be dismissed so lightly. They are proper subjects for science, even while transcending its known bounds."
From The Baltimore Sun:
Scientists enlist the help of religious groups in an effort to measure the healing power of faith from afar.
...Most take it on faith that their prayers make a difference. But now a handful of researchers are wondering: Do prayers from afar really have the power to heal? To find out, scientists at some of the country's leading universities and hospitals are enlisting the help of religious groups to pray for people with AIDS, brain tumors and other illnesses. The Carmelites were among two dozen religious groups recruited by Duke University researchers studying the effect of distant prayer on heart disease.
Not surprisingly, the research has been highly controversial.
...Studies of prayer have also irritated some theologians, who question whether it's appropriate - or medically useful - to put God under the microscope.
"Let's say that we show it has no effect - are we now going to tell people to stop praying?" asks Jeffrey Bishop, a physician, Episcopal priest and co-author of a critique of prayer studies in the Dec. 18 issue of the British medical journal BMJ. "If we show that prayer works, are we going to start writing prescriptions for prayer?"
From BBC News:
...A study found those who were prayed for were as likely to have a setback in hospital, be re-admitted, or die within six months as those not prayed for. The Duke University Medical Center study of 700 patients, in the Lancet, said music, image and touch therapy did appear to reduce patients' distress. ...Heart experts said patients could benefit from feeling more optimistic. ...Further evidence is emerging that people with a more positive outlook appear to be less affected by stressful events, such as having surgery.
...This study looked at 700 patients undergoing angiograms (an X-ray of the blood vessels) or other heart operations at nine hospitals across the US. Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist prayer groups were assigned to pray for 371 of the patients. The rest had no prayer group. In addition, 374 of the patients were assigned MIT therapy and the rest none. MIT involved teaching the patients relaxed breathing techniques and playing them easy listening, classical, or country music during their procedure. The researchers found that neither therapy alone, or combined, showed any measurable treatment effect on serious cardiovascular events, hospital readmission or death. But those given music, imagery and touch therapy had less emotional distress and had a lower death rate after six months, though this was not seen as statistically significant.
...A Lancet editorial on the paper said it would be premature to rule out the use of such therapies in modern medicine. It added: "The contribution that hope and belief make to a personal understanding of illness cannot be dismissed so lightly. They are proper subjects for science, even while transcending its known bounds."
posted by Strother | 10:20 AM
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