Mainstream Medicine Looks Into the Power Of Prayer
by Alex Russel
alex.russel@collegedegreereview.com
College Degree Review Columnist
As surprising as it may sound, prayer, probably the most alternative aspect of alternative medicine, is beginning to get attention from the mainstream medical community as a potentially effective, and quantifiable, healing practice.
The medical community calls it distance healing, but most people know it as prayer. Several studies are underway that are trying to measure the amount of prayer (and more controversially) the effect of prayer on patients suffering from serious disease.
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Prayer and Alternative Medicine
In the biggest of these studies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveyed 31,000 adults and found that 43% of U.S. adults prayed for their own health, while 24% had others pray for their health. Some scientists say that this frequency of prayer is reason alone to delve deeper into the practice.
"Almost every community in the world has a prayer for the sick," said Dr. Mitchell Krucoff, a Duke University cardiologist and researcher in the field of distant prayer and healing. And "cultural practices in healthcare frequently have a clue," he said. "But understanding that clue, learning how to best use it, requires basic clinical science."
Mainstream Medicine Meets Alternative Medicine
In other words, where there is smoke, there is fire. Why would so many people in all of the world's cultures bother praying for the sick, if it didn't have any medical purpose?
Not surprisingly, the study of distant healing was once the realm of eccentric scientists, but researchers at reputable institutions like the Mind/Body Medical Institute in Chestnut Hill, Mass., Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina and the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco are now involved in the field. The National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine has spent $2.2 million on studies of distant healing since 2000, though this is still a small fraction of the agency's annual budget, which totaled $117 million in 2004.
Early Results Inconclusive
Mainstream science has only begun to explore distant healing, and the early results have been inconclusive. An article published in 2000 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers reported on 23 studies on various distant healing techniques, including religious, energy, and spiritual healing. Thirteen of the 23 studies indicated positive effects to distant healing; nine studies found no beneficial effect and one study showed a modest negative effect with the use of distant healing.
Getting an Alternative Medicine Degree
Despite these mixed results, the willingness of scientists and researchers to look further into one of the most spiritual aspects of alternative medicine gives an indication that alternative medicine is coming a long way quickly. Alternative medicine degrees are available all over the country and are worth looking into for those with a love for healing others.
About the Author
Alex Russel is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn, NY.. Since graduating from Syracuse University he has worked at many different media companies in fields as diverse as film, TV, advertising, and journalism. He holds a dual bachelor's degree in English and History.
Sources
www.usatoday.com
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