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Prayer a Powerful Healer

My aunt Eliza is our family's "pray-er" -- the one who routinely offers up prayers whenever any of us are ill or about to undergo a medical procedure. So far, everyone has recovered. We've often wondered how much Eliza's prayers had to do with that -- and now a new study reveals perhaps more than the skeptics in my family think. A review of 17 studies on the effects of intercessory prayer -- prayer that is offered for the benefit of another person -- showed net positive effects for people who received prayers for their medical or psychological problems. While some of the studies showed statistically significant positive effects for prayer and others did not, when the effects are averaged across all 17 studies, researchers found that intercessory prayer may indeed help people heal. In all but one of those studies, participants were divided into two groups with one group receiving prayer in addition to conventional treatment for their condition, and the other group receiving only conventional treatment. These studies were double-blind. In other words, neither patients nor health-care providers knew who was receiving prayer.

The range of health problems in the studies varied widely, including heart disease, AIDS, infertility, leukemia, arthritis and psychiatric disorders, to name a few. The prayers offered varied by type, the number of "intercessors" and by religious faith. Sometimes prayers were part of a regular church service or group prayer session, and in other instances individuals prayed on their own, in their own homes. Interestingly, the results showed no correlation between the religion of the intercessor, the type of prayer invoked, the number of intercessors or the specific medical condition of the participants. The criteria for inclusion in this study review were simple -- intercessory prayer had to have been used with a population of clients or patients and efficacy had to be measured, preferably using standardized measures and a double-blind randomized control methodology. I called study author David R. Hodge, PhD, assistant professor at Arizona State University and a senior nonresident fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society, to ask him to elaborate on this fascinating work. According to Dr. Hodge, in seven of the 17 studies, those who received intercessory prayer demonstrated significant improvement compared with those who received standard treatment, devoid of prayer. In another five studies, he said that the trend favored the prayed-for group -- there were improvements, but the positive effects noted did not reach what are considered statistically significant levels. Then, when the results of all 17 studies were combined, there was indeed a small but significant overall positive finding for prayer. But Dr. Hodge added a cautionary note: Prayer appears to make a difference, but he does not advocate substituting prayer for medical treatment. Instead, prayer should be viewed as a supplement that may enhance positive effects.

So, should one pray for those who are ill?

Yes, if you or a loved one are inclined to do so. For that matter, you can pray for yourself and ask others to pitch in as well... because doing something supportive for someone such as saying a prayer for their well-being or health not only feels good, but may be healing, too.

Source(s): David R. Hodge, PhD, is assistant professor at Arizona State University and a senior nonresident fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society.