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Diet
& Lifestyle Prayer
The Power Of Prayer
"Very often we do not know what it is
that brings about the recovery of a patient. I am sure that often it is
faith which is a most important factor."’
Professor
Claude E Forkner
former President of the New York Cancer Society
‘A physician who walks into a sickroom
is not alone. He can only minister to the ailing person with the material
tools of scientific medicine - his faith in God does the rest’
Dr E. Hess M.D.
Introduction
Religious scriptures from all
faiths proclaim the power of prayer. With God’s help, nothing is
impossible. The value of faith and prayer is also proclaimed by
experienced physicians; miracles do exist. But can the power of prayer be
measured or monitored in controlled clinical studies? At the Internet
Health Library, we have uncovered an interesting collection of such
studies showing that prayer and faith are important factors which can help
patients cope with, and in some cases overcome, ill-health.
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Intercessory prayer -
a pilot study into drug & alcohol abuse
Researchers in Albuquerque, USA conducted an
interesting small-scale pilot study into the effects of intercessory
prayer with people suffering from alcohol abuse.
Forty two alcoholics were recruited over a
period of six months and told that they may or may not have prayers
offered for their problems with alcohol by outside volunteers. The
volunteer prayer intercessors were recruited from the community (from
various religious backgrounds including Jewish, Catholic, Protestant) and
all had had experience with intercessory prayer and believed that their
prayers had been answered at least occasionally. They were asked to pray
daily for six months and record the content, time spent and any
"transcendent" experiences. Each volunteer was assigned to three
clients and given their first names and research numbers only, and each
client had three to six intercessors assigned to them.
At the end of the six months, although
there were no differences found in alcohol consumption between the prayer
intervention group and the non-intervention group, a significant
difference was observed in the number of those in the prayer group found
to stay with the programme over and above the non-intervention group.
Interestingly, those who thought that someone else was already praying for
them were, on average, drinking significantly more after the six month
period than those who indicated that they thought nobody was praying on
her behalf.
The researchers conceded that "it
remains to be seen whether this finding is replicated in other studies of
intercessory prayer intervention when a behavioural condition is
examined".
Walker S. Intercessory prayer : a pilot
investigation funded by the Office of Alternative Medicine. Alternatives
Therapies in Medicine. March 1997 3,2, 104-105.
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The relationship between health and religion
Researchers at Duke University Medical Center, Durham,
USA set up a Program on Religion, Aging, and Health to investigate the
potential relationships between religious
activities, physical health, social support, and depressive symptoms in a
sample of 4,000 persons age 65 and over. Religious activity as a single
construct was correlated
with both social support and good physical health but was unrelated
to depression. However, when it was split into
the three components, the benefits were found to be significantly
increased.
For instance, frequency of church
attendance was positively related to physical health
and negatively related to depression, but was surprisingly unrelated to
social support. The data revealed that
frequent churchgoers were about half as likely to be depressed.
Interestingly, private prayer/Bible reading
was negatively correlated with physical health but this may have been due
to the fact that people tend to pray more when they are in need of help.
Koenig HG; Hays JC; George LK; Blazer DG;
Larson DB; Landerman LR. Modeling the cross-sectional relationships
between religion, physical health, social support, and depressive
symptoms. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry (UNITED STATES) Spring 1997, 5 (2)
p131-44
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Cancer, faith healing and religion
A study at the Department of Oncology, University
Hospital of Tromso, Norway has found that faith and religion play an
important role for chronically and critically ill patients. In a national
questionnaire-based multicentre study, five questions about the patients'
religious beliefs and their preferences concerning pastoral services in
the hospitals were included.
Among the 911 invited patients, 642 (70.5%)
were included in the analysis. Spiritual healing, defined as faith healing
and healing by hand, was the found to be the most frequently used ‘alternative’
therapy among Norwegian cancer patients. Almost 50% of cancer patients
using spiritual healing had used other alternative therapies prior to the
diagnosis of cancer.
Women, elderly people and patients using
faith healing described themselves as
religious more often than other patients. 139 (23%) of the responding
patients reported a strengthening of their religious belief after the
diagnosis of cancer.
Risberg T; Wist E; Kaasa S; Lund E; Norum
J. Spiritual healing among Norwegian hospitalised cancer patients and
patients' religious needs and preferences of pastoral services. Eur J
Cancer (ENGLAND) Feb 1996, 32A (2) p274-81
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Prayer, patients and doctors
Whilst physicians rarely
question patients about their religious beliefs, this lack of inquiry may
be contrary to patients' wishes and detrimental
to patient care. For this reason, researchers at the Department of Family
Medicine, East Carolina University School of Medicine, USA examined
whether patients wanted their doctors to discuss religious beliefs with
them.
Two hundred and three adult
inpatients at two hospitals were interviewed regarding their
views on the relationship between religion and health, many of whom
expressed positive attitudes toward physician involvement in spiritual
issues. The survey found that 68 per cent of the patients said their
physician had never discussed religious beliefs with them.
77 per cent said physicians should consider patients' spiritual needs, 37
per cent wanted their physicians to discuss religious beliefs with them
more frequently, and 48 per cent wanted their physicians to pray with
them.
This report concluded that although many
patients desire more frequent and more in-depth discussions about
religious issues with their physicians, very few physicians took the time
to discuss these issues with their patients.
King DE; Bushwick B. Beliefs and attitudes
of hospital inpatients about faith healing and prayer. J Fam Pract (UNITED
STATES) Oct 1994, 39 (4) p349-52
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Prayer, drugs, alcoholism and depression
As part of a larger,
retrospective investigation of the effects of religious practices on inner
city homeless women. Forty-eight per cent of the women reported the use of
prayer as significantly related to less use of alcohol and/or street
drugs, fewer perceived worries, and fewer depressive symptoms.
Shuler PA; Gelberg L; Brown M. The effects
of spiritual/religious practices on psychological well-being among inner
city homeless women. Nurse Pract Forum (UNITED STATES) Jun 1994, 5 (2)
p106-13
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Prayer, meditation, special diets and AIDs
Literature on long-term
survivors with AIDS is replete with anecdotal evidence
linking survival to such things as (a) holding a positive attitude toward
the illness; (b) participating in health-promoting behaviors; (c) engaging
in spiritual part in AIDS-related activities. To determine whether there
is quantitative research to support this anecdotal evidence, researchers
at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, Baltimore monitored 100
subjects, who were either HIV-positive or diagnosed with ARC or AIDS, and
responded to questions regarding perceptions of their physical, emotional,
and spiritual health; participation in spiritual activities, selected
health-promoting behaviors, and AIDS-related activities.
The results demonstrated positive
relationships between the patients’ health and their participation in
prayer and meditation. Other relevant factors included the patients’
perception of their physical, emotional, and spiritual health; and their
participation in exercise and the use of special diets.
Carson VB. Prayer, meditation, exercise,
and special diets: behaviors of the hardyperson with HIV/AIDS. J Assoc
Nurses AIDS Care (UNITED STATES) Jul-Sep 1993, 4 (3) p18-28
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Prayer and health during pregnancy
In this study, researchers at the
Department of Family and Community Medicine, Eastern Virginia Medical
School, examined the relationship between praying for one's baby during
pregnancy and self-ratings of health. Data were collected from a biethnic
(black and Hispanic) sample of postpartum mothers in Galveston, Tex,
from 1986 to 1987. This sample is
representative of the annual biethnic population
of live births in Galveston. Subjective health was assessed for the
periods both before and during pregnancy with
self-ratings of global or overall health,
worry over health, and functional health or lack of disability.
Analyses controlled for the effects of the
mother's age, marital status,gravidity, education, and self-rated
religiosity. Findings revealed that all three
pre-pregnancy health measures were associated with her own health.
Levin JS; Lyons JS; Larson DB. Prayer and
health during pregnancy: findings from the Galveston Low Birthweight
Survey. South Med J (UNITED STATES) Sep 1993, 86 (9) p1022-7
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Prayer and rehabilitation
Another study conducted at
the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore,
USA found that religious and spiritual needs of the patients were
considered by the patients to be very important in their recovery.
The study undertook to ascertain the
patient's pastoral needs and the extent of pastoral services
which were provided. After discharge from the inpatient rehabilitation
hospital, patients were asked about their
perceived religious and spiritual needs, as well
as to the extent of religious, spiritual, and pastoral services provided
during their inpatient stay.
The majority of the patients (74%) reported
their religious and spiritual beliefs were important. Forty-five percent
indicated that not enough attention was paid to their religious or
spiritual needs, whereas only 1% felt that too much attention was paid. A
majority of patients (54%) desired pastoral
visitation. Other needs were elicited,
including expanded pastoral services, increased staff empathy for the
patient's spiritual and religious needs, and
improved availability of church or synagogue
services or sacraments.
Many Jewish patients reported concerns of
being punished by God, whereas Christian patients were concerned that God
was unaware of their personal needs. Some responders, regardless of
personal faith, were also troubled with fears of death, God's failure to
heal, and loss of purpose in life.
The researchers found that religious
beliefs were important factors in helping the patients cope with their
health problems, and that there was a clear need to establish a mechanism
to identify the religious and spiritual needs of each individual patient.
These needs must be considered with
both sensitivity and compassion by all members of the rehabilitation
staff.
Anderson JM; Anderson LJ; Felsenthal G.
Pastoral needs and support within an inpatient rehabilitation unit. Arch
Phys Med Rehabil (UNITED STATES) Jun 1993, 74 (6) p574-8
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This page was last updated on 28 March 2001 11:26:16
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