Study: Prayer Can Harm Patients

[gherman]

I thought this was interesting because I didn't know they were doing a study about this. They said that praying for someone in the hospital can increase their morbidity/mortality. It is especially interseting because the religious are jumping all over it... duh! What are your thoughts on the study?

 

[financeguy]

Next month, there'll be a study saying the opposite.

 

[deep]

Prayer Doesn't Heal The Sick Or Injured Says Study



Prayer for the ill may do more harm than good

 

[verte76]

That's interesting. Personally, I'm still going to pray for recovery when I'm sick.

 

[deep]

I believe that will help you.

The human mind does respond to suggestion,
positive affirmations have helped me at times of great stress.


The studies were about praying for other people.

I suppose if one were told all of their friends gathered and prayed for them
it could cause the sick person to fell better.

again the power of suggestion.

 

[XHendrix24]

Somewhat understandable. If a person knows that they're being prayed for and feels that their soul is in good condition, they may be less resistant toward death than someone who is less confident in the state of their soul. The more confident they are that they may be judged favorably in the afterlife, I'd imagine the less they would care about hanging onto this life.

Plus, at least at my church, while people often pray for the sick, they don't necessarily focus on their living - rather, they pray that God handles the situation as he sees fit, whatever the end result may be.

 

[deep]

Plus, at least at my church, while people often pray for the sick, they don't necessarily focus on their living - rather, they pray that God handles the situation as he sees fit, whatever the end result may be.

What's the point?

 

[nbcrusader]

What's the point?

Of wanting God's Will?

 

[nbcrusader]

Next month, there'll be a study saying the opposite.

Actually, this sounds like an attempt to generate such an "opposite study" from the one posted within the last year that said prayer helps in recovery.

 

[deep]

they pray that God handles the situation as he sees fit, whatever the end result may be.

so,

without people praying

God might forget to do as he sees fit?


or


might do something he sees as "not fit"?
because he is pissed about people not praying.

 

[deep]

Actually, this sounds like an attempt to generate such an "opposite study" from the one posted within the last year that said prayer helps in recovery.

can you find that study and post it?

 

[nbcrusader]

Remember, prayer is not about changing God, but aligning us with God.

 

[yolland]

I suppose if one were told all of their friends gathered and prayed for them
it could cause the sick person to fell better.

again the power of suggestion.

To me this is really the bottom line, though I probably would have worded it "the power of support" rather than suggestion.

I am not a believer in prayer purely in and of itself as a healing tool, however, this study does come with two significant qualifications:
1) After 30 days, the death rates and incidence of complications across all 3 groups (people who knew they were being prayed for; people who didn't know; and people who neither received prayers nor expected to) dropped to essentially the same. So, they can't really discount the possibility of, for example, post-op anxiety generated by feeling like they "had something to prove," or like their doctors must really have considered them bad-off to warrant selecting them for mass prayer, on the health of that first group (who had the highest initial complications rate).
2) Those offering the prayers had no personal connection to the sick people, and there was never any interchange between them.

When I was recovering from brain surgery last December-January, my entire family including my siblings and mother basically dropped whatever else they were doing for the bulk of that time to be with me in the hospital, help out with our kids, etc., and prayer was an integral part of that. Not grim, illness-focused prayer--just sharing the usual Torah portion and prayers that would've been said that day anyway, etc. It certainly was very comforting and reassuring for me, which I am certain helped speed up my recovery. However, obviously I can't disentangle the effects of their prayers from my awareness of their presence and support more generally--nor should I really, that's ultimately what it's all about, IMO.

So while I take the notion that a total stranger's prayers, offered without the benefit of any interpersonal contact (physical, online, whatever), could actually help heal anyone with a grain of salt, I do think it would be unfortunate to dismiss the healing benefits of knowing that someone you have a personal connection with is praying for you based on this study.

 

[gherman]

Actually, this sounds like an attempt to generate such an "opposite study" from the one posted within the last year that said prayer helps in recovery.

Thay have done 5 other studies on the exact same thing. 3 of the studies said the same thing while the other 2 said the opposite.