does prayer work? discuss

[Anonymous]

in medical school, i took a course on religion and medicine and i remember one lecture on prayer, when a chaplain md spoke about his research into prayer; he showed that people (all adults, all in intensive care, all at same level of illness by mortality scores) who were prayed for were transitioned out of the ICU 2 days faster than those who weren't prayed for. it was a blinded study, so the patients and families and doctors did not know which patients were being prayed for an which were not. the prayers did not change death rates among the two groups. the prayer groups were not necessarily in the religion of the patient.

i have a friend who doesn't believe in God, but does believe in the power of prayer - she believes the strength of prayers is a real thing - a force - that can alter things.

i thought of all this recently when i had two horrifyingly scary incidents - one where i almost crashed into a car and stopped short by about 2 inches and the second, where i was threatened by a man at a gas station in SE, where i unwisely stopped for gas.

I'm not terribly religious, but my mother and father both pray for me - in particular for my safety. And both times, I felt I "got away" b/c of their prayers. My mom immediately popped into my mind both times.

That said, I can't bear to believe that God works in our lives, choosing certain children to suffer and others to prosper.

Your thoughts?

[Anonymous]

It's called a triple blind study.

If you plan to be a doctor your job is to heal and to deal compassionately with family members. So you don't have to believe but you do have to understand that others do and their belief system is valuable.

There are lots of things that affect the outcome of patients like love, meditation, hope and prayer.

[Anonymous]

Are you sure that was how the study was done? The patient praying or meditating has shown to improve duration and outcomes. I believe the study you're talking about was found to have no statistical difference between the prayed for and not prayed for groups.

[Anonymous]

Personal prayer helps in that it calms and reassures the person who is praying. But, is there some sort of force or deity that is utilizing the energies of people in prayer circles? No, I really don't believe so.

[Anonymous]

Prayer helps me and I believe it helps other. I have actual seen my mothe's BP fall while I prayed with her.

[Anonymous]

OP, yes, I believe that prayer "works." But here's the thing: It doesn't always "work" the way we think it should.

[Anonymous]

Prayer works for me. I have no experience with life or death situation, but I asked and received more than once, including answers to my questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, yes, I believe that prayer "works." But here's the thing: It doesn't always "work" the way we think it should.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
in medical school, i took a course on religion and medicine and i remember one lecture on prayer, when a chaplain md spoke about his research into prayer; he showed that people (all adults, all in intensive care, all at same level of illness by mortality scores) who were prayed for were transitioned out of the ICU 2 days faster than those who weren't prayed for. it was a blinded study, so the patients and families and doctors did not know which patients were being prayed for an which were not. the prayers did not change death rates among the two groups. the prayer groups were not necessarily in the religion of the patient.

i have a friend who doesn't believe in God, but does believe in the power of prayer - she believes the strength of prayers is a real thing - a force - that can alter things.i thought of all this recently when i had two horrifyingly scary incidents - one where i almost crashed into a car and stopped short by about 2 inches and the second, where i was threatened by a man at a gas station in SE, where i unwisely stopped for gas.

I'm not terribly religious, but my mother and father both pray for me - in particular for my safety. And both times, I felt I "got away" b/c of their prayers. My mom immediately popped into my mind both times.

That said, I can't bear to believe that God works in our lives, choosing certain children to suffer and others to prosper.

Your thoughts?

This makes absolutely no sense. Sort of like all the "positive vibes" people ask for now, because they think they are too cool to ask for prayers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, yes, I believe that prayer "works." But here's the thing: It doesn't always "work" the way we think it should.

Indeed. As Garth Brooks sings, “Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers.”

[Anonymous]

Yes, sometimes it can. In my opinion, at least. My mother at the age of 65, had late stage ovarian cancer with a tumor the size of a grapefruit. She was given less than 17 months to live by the preeminent Sloan Memorial Hospital.

She lived nearly 7 yrs. All that was done was 1) alternative treatment after chemo and 2) lots of group prayer.

The medical doctors scoffed at the idea that alternative treatment extended her life. But they didn't discount the power of prayer.

At the time our family prayed sometimes all night, every night, for months. ThenI felt quite strongly that she would live despite what the doctors were saying.

After 7 yrs though, she suddenly became ill and within a week she died. During this time, we all prayed hard, again. But this time, I felt quite strongly that God would be taking her. So our prayers were not granted. I believe that this time God decided He simply wanted her.

[Anonymous]

Anything that improves your spirits and makes you want to fight for life helps. Contrastingly anything that depresses you and makes you want to give up is bad. As for prayer specifically, it can work both ways.

[Anonymous]

Here is the NY Times article from 2006 that discusses the scientific study on prayer
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/health/31pray.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

and here's a link to the study itself
https://www.templeton.org/pdfs/press_releases/060407STEP_paper.pdf

The NYT article starts like this:
Prayers offered by strangers had no effect on the recovery of people who were undergoing heart surgery, a large and long-awaited study has found.

And patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate of post-operative complications like abnormal heart rhythms, perhaps because of the expectations the prayers created, the researchers suggested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Prayer works for me. I have no experience with life or death situation, but I asked and received more than once, including answers to my questions.

Try not praying the next few times and see what happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
in medical school, i took a course on religion and medicine and i remember one lecture on prayer, when a chaplain md spoke about his research into prayer; he showed that people (all adults, all in intensive care, all at same level of illness by mortality scores) who were prayed for were transitioned out of the ICU 2 days faster than those who weren't prayed for. it was a blinded study, so the patients and families and doctors did not know which patients were being prayed for an which were not. the prayers did not change death rates among the two groups. the prayer groups were not necessarily in the religion of the patient.

i have a friend who doesn't believe in God, but does believe in the power of prayer - she believes the strength of prayers is a real thing - a force - that can alter things.

i thought of all this recently when i had two horrifyingly scary incidents - one where i almost crashed into a car and stopped short by about 2 inches and the second, where i was threatened by a man at a gas station in SE, where i unwisely stopped for gas.

I'm not terribly religious, but my mother and father both pray for me - in particular for my safety. And both times, I felt I "got away" b/c of their prayers. My mom immediately popped into my mind both times.

That said, I can't bear to believe that God works in our lives, choosing certain children to suffer and others to prosper.

Your thoughts?

A chaplain MD? someone who completed both seminary and medical training? That's quite rare. Did he cite the study?