Da mihi, Domine Deus, cor pervigil, quod nulla abducat a te curiosa cogitatio: da nobile, quod nulla deorsum trahat indigna affectio; da rectum, quod nulla seorsum obliquet sinistra intentio: da firmum, quod nulla frangat tribulatio: da liberum, quod nulla sibi vindicet violenta affectio.
Do intercessory prayers (those said on behalf of another person and no, I'm not talking about having your friends quickly pray that the approaching police officer doesn't give you a ticket) have an effect on the recovery from illness above and beyond what medical treatment can provide?
Answer: Some say yes and some say no. (What a shocker!) Here is a report just published that supports the affirmitive:
David R. Hodge, an assistant professor of social work in the College of Human Services at Arizona State University, conducted a comprehensive analysis of 17 major studies on the effects of intercessory prayer - or prayer that is offered for the benefit of another person - among people with psychological or medical problems. He found a positive effect.
According to the abstract published on-line, Dr. Hodge states that he performed a meta-analysis of 17 studies that used intercessory prayer for medical or psychological illness and "found a positive effect" according to the story. In his abstract he refers to this effect thusly: "Meta-analysis indicated small, but significant, effect sizes for the use of intercessory prayer (g =-.171, p =.015)." His conclusion:
This is the most thorough and all-inclusive study of its kind on this controversial subject that I am aware of," said Hodge. "It suggests that more research on the topic may be warranted, and that praying for people with psychological or medical problems may help them recover."
At the risk of sounding like an expert in intercessory prayer, which I am not, here is my conclusion:
I am not convinced. This doesn't mean that I don't approve of it, but being a hard-boiled medical oncologist immersed in the world of hard-line chemotherapy and biological therapy, I would like to see more conclusive evidence that intercessory prayer can ameliorate disease.
For an opposing view, check out this study from Harvard Medical School:
BACKGROUND: Intercessory prayer is widely believed to influence recovery from illness, but claims of benefits are not supported by well-controlled clinical trials. Prior studies have not addressed whether prayer itself or knowledge/certainty that prayer is being provided may influence outcome. We evaluated whether (1) receiving intercessory prayer or (2) being certain of receiving intercessory prayer was associated with uncomplicated recovery after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. METHODS: Patients at 6 US hospitals were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: 604 received intercessory prayer after being informed that they may or may not receive prayer; 597 did not receive intercessory prayer also after being informed that they may or may not receive prayer; and 601 received intercessory prayer after being informed they would receive prayer. Intercessory prayer was provided for 14 days, starting the night before CABG. The primary outcome was presence of any complication within 30 days of CABG. Secondary outcomes were any major event and mortality. RESULTS: In the 2 groups uncertain about receiving intercessory prayer, complications occurred in 52% (315/604) of patients who received intercessory prayer versus 51% (304/597) of those who did not (relative risk 1.02, 95% CI 0.92-1.15). Complications occurred in 59% (352/601) of patients certain of receiving intercessory prayer compared with the 52% (315/604) of those uncertain of receiving intercessory prayer (relative risk 1.14, 95% CI 1.02-1.28). Major events and 30-day mortality were similar across the 3 groups. CONCLUSIONS: Intercessory prayer itself had no effect on complication-free recovery from CABG, but certainty of receiving intercessory prayer was associated with a higher incidence of complications.
The bottom line of this large study is that intercessory prayer did not reduce the incidence of complications after cardiac surgery, not to mention the fact that a huge number of Bostonians had complications after their heart surgery. Who's minding the store up there anyway?
This debate will not end with publication of Dr. Hodge's meta-analysis, but since he has called for more research on the topic I'll be happy to help. I'll start by asking for the recovery of all those afflicted with cancer, then in the spirit of humility dive right into this masterpiece by St. Thomas Aquinas. Domine, exaudi orationem meam.
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The issue of the study of intercessory prayer will come up again and again in health care research, but the frustrating issue is trying to do a study free of obvious bias (pro-prayer (i.e. Templeton Foundation funding) or anti-prayer).
The important thing to realize in studying intercessory prayer is that your personal position about intercessory prayer will be unchanged regardless of the results of any study. Everyone can always explain away their reasons for trusting or dismissing the data.
Pallimed (my blog) and Slate covered the Harvard study last year in more detail. At least the meta-analysis did not cost 2.4 million!
http://www.pallimed.org/2006/04/24-m-study-shows-intercessory-prayer.ht…
http://www.slate.com/id/2139373/
One thing that is somewhat telling about the quality of the study you quoted is:
1) The journal is probably 3rd or 4th tier...Research on Social Work Practice?
2) Single author study is open to a heavy critique for bias
I would like to see the study as this area interests me. One big problem from the abstract is that no intercessory prayer study has really met great methodology criteria, include 12 studies in a meta-analysis is stretching at best.
BTW, great blog TCO!
thanks
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I think it's very significant that Jesus was always more concerned with spiritual health than with physical healing, although he performed more than a few of those as well.
We will all die eventually. Prayer may not have any impact on the method or speed of that death, but I believe that the impact of prayer on spiritual healing is beyond measure.
I'm not sure that prayer is meant to leverage God's hand... Favorable medical outcomes are no measure of God's favor - remember Job, a man who was tested to the limit of human suffering, but who refused - despite it all - to curse God. That faith in God's goodness, regardless of personal circumstances, is what makes Job's faith and patience legendary. Perhaps prayer is meant to focus our thoughts on the finite nature of suffering, and the inscrutible goodness of God?
Although these statistics are not solid evidence one way or another, it always tends to make me laugh when I read about Lourdes, France.
"Yearly from March to October the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes or the Domain (as it is most commonly known) is the place of mass pilgrimages from Europe and other parts of the world. The spring water from the grotto is believed by some to possess healing properties. An estimated 200 million people have visited the shrine since 1860 [1], and the Roman Catholic Church has officially recognized 68 miracle healings." Wikipedia
Apparently the other 199,999,932 people were not praying quite hard enough.
The whole idea of intercessory prayer is wrong on many levels, not the least of which is theological. What? You mean god was going to ignore that poor, suffering sick person if someone hadn't nudged him?
I have no idea how many errors Hodge made in his analysis, or how poorly designed the studies were, but I have no doubt that a decent analysis of properly-designed studies will show no effect.
scienceblogs???
"Do intercessory prayers (those said on behalf of another person and no, I'm not talking about having your friends quickly pray that the approaching police officer doesn't give you a ticket) have an effect on the recovery from illness above and beyond what medical treatment can provide?"
Sorry, you fail grade school reading comprehension.
Well, I see it this way; As long as the prayer meeting doesn't keep me away from the infusion center when I need to be there, it's not causing any harm.
Of course, whenever anyone says "I'll pray for you" my blood pressure goes up another notch, so intercessory prayer had better be double-blind.
http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?p=2431198
Ouch, whole article picked apart.
One of the things about these studies is that every study measures something different.
Some of them test prayer where the patient is unaware of the prayer. Some test prayer from strangers. Some test prayer from friends.
I take paul's point, but think of it this way. If I was sick and a complete stranger said to me, "well, I hope you get better", I'd say "thanks", but wouldn't think much of it. If a close friend said "I hope you get better, we miss you", then that might make me feel good.
Until now in my life, His Noodly Appendage has kept me safe from serious illness. But I figure that if I ever am, one thing that will make a difference in my recovery is whether or not I know that there are people out there who truly care about me. Possibly being prayed for by strangers won't help that, but knowing that friends are thinking about me (whether that "thinking about" takes the form of prayer or not) might.
All this is speculation, of course.
Prayer never hurts, and I sure am not the on to tell you how it works. It is so random - people who seem "spiritual" who don't get prayers answered, to those who curse God but their cancer goes away. Like I tell my patients: I'm not management, I just work here.
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