EULALEE THOMPSON
SINCE IT'S Holy Week and the country is in a tizzy about the fine theological details of the Prime Minister's claim that she was elected by God, then it may be interesting to note that prayer had no effect on the recovery of patients who underwent heart bypass surgery.
Well, at least, this is the finding of a study branded as the largest of its kind, with lead researcher being cardiologist, Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard University Medical School, published in the most recent issue of The American Heart Journal.
Prayer not only had no effect on the patients' recovery, but those persons in the study who knew that they were being prayed for ended up with a slightly higher rate of complications.
So how did these researchers set about measuring the effect of prayer on healing? In this US$2.4 million study, 1,802 patients undergoing coronary bypass surgery in six hospitals were divided into three groups. Patients in two of the groups were prayed for by members of three congregations St. Paul's Monastery in St. Paul, Minnesota; the Community of Teresian Carmelites in Worcester, Massachusetts, and Silent Unity, a Missouri prayer ministry near Kansas City, all in the United States. Half of those receiving prayer were told that they were prayed for, and the other half were told that they may (or may not) receive prayer.
THE RESULTS:
* No statistically significant difference between those in the prayed-for and non-prayed-for groups.
* About 59 per cent of patients who knew they were being prayed for suffered complications (this was not statistically significant) versus 51 per cent of those who were told they may or may not be prayed for.
* Those in the group that received no prayer had fewer complications, such as stroke or heart attack, than in the other groups.
But who is going to believe this study anyway; it just will not accord with people's day-to-day experience. Already, various reactions to the study express little surprise with the results since science could hardly be expected to measure and study the supernatural.
Prayer is the cornerstone of 'alternative medicine' practice, and many can attest to the mind-body experience in prayer. It's always difficult to find local studies, but a survey by the (U.S.) National Institutes of Health say that 55 per cent of Americans have used prayers for health reasons. Prayer was actually more popular than many other complementary or alternative medicine practices, such as yoga, vitamins and acupuncture.
Please send your feedback to eulalee.thompson@gleanerjm.com.
