STUDY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY
SUPPORTS THE POWER OF PRAYING FOR SICK

Every day, people worldwide turn to the power of prayer to heal the sick. Can Prayer Heal?
Scientists Suggest Recovery May Be the Hand of God at Work.

Study at Duke University Supports the Power of Praying for Sick

We probably all know people who believe in the power of prayer to aid the sick. At best, their passions may contribute to healing. At worst, their interventions seem innocuous if the patient is still getting acceptable medical care. But now, those who believe in prayer are getting support for their views from what may seem an unlikely source: the scientific community. Praying for sick patients, as a means to help them get well, may actually contribute to their recovery, according to a new, although small, study by Duke University researchers. The prayer used in the Duke study wasn't the in-person service you might expect to have a healing impact on a patient who could see and absorb the spirituality. Duke researchers used intercessory prayer, off-site sessions provided by seven prayer groups of various denominations around the world. The groups included Buddhists, Catholics, Moravians, Jews, fundamentalist Christians, Baptists and the Unity School of Christianity. Neither patients, nor prayer groups,knew who was praying for whom. ``The name, age and illness of each patient assigned to prayer therapy was sent to each prayer group,'' researcher Suzanne Crater said. ``These patients had prayers from all over the world said on their behalf for healing and recovery.'' The patients in the study were heart patients undergoing coronary care known as stenting, where tubes are used to prop open clogged arteries.

What was possibly even more surprising than the positive outcomes these patients achieved, was that prayer was more successful than other, similar, interventions used during recovery. Other therapies, which were less helpful than prayer but more helpful than having no such care, included guided imagery, stress relaxation, and healing touch. ``The researchers are unsure why prayer appeared to be superior to the other methods utilized in the study,'' said Tracey Koepke, senior medical writer at the Duke Medical Center news office. ``What they do know is that the patients who were prayed for had better outcomes than the patients who were not prayed for because they had fewer adverse outcomes than the others.'' Researchers say they can only guess at this point why the interventions helped. They assume they calmed patients, which aided their recoveries.

But the findings were so encouraging that research is continuing at eight sites besides Duke, including centers in New York, Washington, Minnesota, California, Pennsylvania and Florida ``I think it's a great study to do,'' said Jamie Kosik, director of cardiovascular research at Florida Cardiovascular Research in Atlantis, Fla., one of the follow-up study centers. ``This is so simple and if it works than it's better than all those drugs ... it would be very interesting to see how we can use it in all different fields of medicine. ``It's simply something where you can offer some old-fashioned healing touches and kind words, and we should always be looking at ways to make the patients more comfortable. This would be an excellent way of doing it rather than giving a pill.''