Studies on intercessory prayer

Some religions claim that praying for somebody who is sick can have positive effects on the health of the person being prayed for.

For a general discussion of the philosophical and religious issues, see Efficacy of prayer.
A medical examination

Meta-studies of the literature in the field have been performed showing evidence only for no effect or a potentially small effect. For instance, a 2006 meta analysis on 14 studies concluded that there is "no discernible effect" while a 2007 systemic review of intercessory prayer reported inconclusive results, noting that 7 of 17 studies had "small, but significant, effect sizes" but the review noted that the most methodologically rigorous studies failed to produce significant findings.[1][2] Statistical trends in an additional 5 of the 17 studies favored the prayer group over the control group.[2]

Introduction

In comparison to other fields that have been scientifically studied, carefully monitored studies of prayer are relatively few. The field remains tiny, with about $5 million spent worldwide on such research. If and when more studies of prayer are done, the issue of prayer's efficacy may be further clarified.[3]

The third party studies discussed here have all been performed using Christian prayers. Some have reported null results, some have reported correlations between prayer and health, and some have reported contradictory results in which beneficiaries of prayer had worsened health outcomes. The parameters used within the study designs have varied, for instance, daily or weekly prayers, whether to provide patient photographs, with full or partial names, measuring levels of belief in prayer, and whether patients underwent surgery.

Studies

Galton

In 1872, the Victorian scientist Francis Galton made the first statistical analysis of third-party prayer. He hypothesized, partly as satire, that if prayer were effective, members of the British Royal Family would live longer than average, given that thousands prayed for their well-being every Sunday, and he prayed over randomized plots of land to see whether the plants would grow any faster, and found no correlation in either case.[4][5]

Byrd and Harris

A 1988 study by Randolph C. Byrd used 393 patients at the San Francisco General Hospital coronary care unit (CCU). Measuring 29 health outcomes using three-level (good, intermediate, or bad) scoring, the prayer group suffered fewer newly diagnosed ailments on only six of them. Byrd concluded that "Based on these data there seemed to be an effect, and that effect was presumed to be beneficial", and that "intercessory prayer to the Judeo-Christian God has a beneficial therapeutic effect in patients admitted to a CCU."[6] The reaction from the scientific community concerning this study was mixed. Several reviewers considered Byrd's study to be well-designed and well-executed,[7] while others remained skeptical. A criticism of Byrd's study, which also applies to most other studies, is the fact that he did not limit prayers by the friends and family of patients, hence it is unclear which prayers, if any, may have been measured.[8]

The Byrd study had an inconsistent pattern of only six positive outcomes amongst 26 specific problem conditions. A systematic review suggested this indicates possible Type I errors.[2]

A 1999 follow-up by William S. Harris et al. attempted to replicate Byrd's findings under stricter experimental conditions, noting that the original research was not completely blinded and was limited to only "prayer-receptive" individuals (57 of the 450 patients invited to participate in the study refused to give consent "for personal reasons or religious convictions").[9] Using a different, continuous weighted scoring system – which admittedly was, like Byrd's scoring, "an unvalidated measure of CCU outcomes" – Harris et al. concluded that "supplementary, remote, blinded, intercessory prayer produced a measurable improvement in the medical outcomes of critically ill patients", and suggested that "prayer be an effective adjunct to standard medical care."[10] However, when they applied Byrd's scores to their data, they could not document an effect of prayer using his scoring method. Critics have suggested that both Byrd's and Harris's results can be explained by chance.[11] Richard P. Sloan compared the Byrd and Harris studies with the sharpshooter fallacy, "searching through the data until a significant effect is found, then drawing the bull's-eye."[12]

O'Laoire

A 1997 study by O'Laoire measured the effects on the agents performing daily prayers and reported benefits not only for the beneficiaries, but also for the agents, and the benefit levels correlated with the belief levels of agents and beneficiaries in some cases. The study measured anxiety and depression. This study used beneficiary names as well as photographs.[13]

Sicher

In 1998 Fred Sicher et al. supposedly performed a small scale double-blind randomized study of 40 patients with advanced AIDS.[14][15] The patients were in category C-3 with CD4 cell counts below 200 and each had at least one case of AIDS-defining illness.[16] The patients were randomly assigned to receive distant intercessory healing or none at all. The intercession took place by people in different parts of the United States who never had any contact with the patients. Both patients and physicians were blind to who received or did not receive intercession.[16] Six months later the prayer group had fewer AIDS illnesses, less frequent doctor visits, and fewer days in the hospital.[15] However, CD4 counts and scores on other physiological tests had no significant variation between the two groups of patients.[16]

Years later this study was debunked. The original research showed no significance so the researchers went data dredging. They isolated the few statistical figures that were significant and discarded the rest, including one metric which showed prayer had a negative outcome.[17] A later study which attempted to replicate the original found no significant difference between the study group and the control group.[18]

Further information: Elisabeth Targ

Mayo clinic

A 2001 double-blind study at the Mayo Clinic randomized 799 discharged coronary surgery patients into a control group and an intercessory prayer group, which received prayers at least once a week from 5 intercessors per patient. Analyzing "primary end points" (death, cardiac arrest, rehospitalization, etc.) after 26 weeks, the researchers concluded "intercessory prayer had no significant effect on medical outcomes after hospitalization in a coronary care unit."[19]

The IVF-ET prayer scandal

In 2001 the Journal of Reproductive Medicine published an experimental study by three Columbia University researchers indicating that prayer for women undergoing in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) resulted in a success rate (50%) of pregnancy double that of women who did not receive prayer.[20] Columbia University issued a news release saying that the study had been carefully designed to eliminate bias.[21] The most vocal skeptic was Bruce Flamm, a clinical professor of gynecology and obstetrics at the University of California at Irvine, who found that the experimental procedures were flawed.[22] One of the study's authors, Cha, responded to criticism of the study in the November 2004 issue of JRM.[23] In December 2001, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) confirmed a report by the Columbia University Health Sciences Division that one of the study's authors, Rogerio Lobo, only learned of the study six to twelve months after the study was completed, and that he had only provided editorial assistance.[24] The name of Columbia University and Lobo were retracted from the study.[25] The another researcher, Daniel Wirth, was found guilty in unrelated crime, but there is an argument, that this fraudulent behavior could be involved also in this study.[26][27]

Retroactive intercessory prayer

A 2001 study by Leonard Leibovici used records of 3,393 patients who had developed blood infections at the Rabin Medical Center between 1990 and 1996 to study retroactive intercessory prayer.[28] To compound the alleged miraculous power of prayer itself, the prayers were performed after the patients had already left the hospital. All 3,393 patients were those in the hospital between 1990 and 1996, and the prayers were conducted in 2000. Two of the outcomes, length of stay in the hospital and duration of fever, were found to be significantly improved in the intervention group, implying that prayer can even change events in the past. However, the "mortality rate was lower in the intervention group, but the difference between the groups was not significant." Leibovici concluded that "Remote, retroactive intercessory prayer was associated with a shorter stay in hospital and a shorter duration of fever in patients with a bloodstream infection." Leibovici goes on to note that in the past, people knew the way to prevent diseases (he cites scurvy) without understanding why it worked. In saying so, he suggests that if prayer truly does have a positive effect on patients in hospital, then there may be a naturalist explanation for it that we do not yet understand. After many scientists and scholars criticized this retroactive study,[29] Leibovici stated in 2002 that the "article has nothing to do with religion. I believe that prayer is a real comfort and help to a believer. I do not believe it should be tested in controlled trials."[30] The study has been summarised as being "intended lightheartedly to illustrate the importance of asking research questions that fit with scientific models."[31]

In 2003, Larry Dossey, the executive editor of the journal Explore: The Journal of Science & Healing and an advocate of faith healing[32] co-authored a paper responding to Leibovici which discussed possible mechanisms to explain the results reported.[33] Olshansky and Dossey invoked quantum mechanics to explain not only the benefits of intercessory prayer, but also how it might operate retroactively,[33] drawing strong criticisms from physicist Victor Stenger and physician Jeffrey Bishop.[31] The observer effect is regularly used to suggest that conscious control of physical reality is predicted by quantum mechanics, but this misconception "can be traced to a misinterpretation of wave-particle duality."[31] In relation to backwards causality, Stenger noted that "the results of some quantum experiments may be interpreted as evidence for events in the future affecting events in the past at the quantum level, [but] no theoretical basis exists for applying this notion on the macroscopic scale of human experience."[31] He concluded that while "the atoms in biological systems are quantum in nature ... their collective behaviour does not exhibit any quantum effects. ... What is more, even if the brain were a quantum system, that would not imply that it can break the laws of physics any more than electrons or photons, which are inarguably quanta."[31] One further point which illustrates that Dossey and Olshansky do not understand the physics they are using is seen in their invocation of quantum nonlocality in explaining backward causation, stating that "[r]etroactive prayer may be less absurd than [Leibovici] supposes, in the light of the discovery of non-local phenomena."[33] Unfortunately, the two are mutually incompatible: in allowing reverse causality in a model, the phenomenon of nonlocality ceases.[31] Dossey has written in Explore about coining the term "nonlocal mind" in 1987,[34] though quantum nonlocality goes back to a 1935 paper by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen.[35] Olshansky and Dossey defended their work from various critics in the British Medical Journal's rapid response section[36]

Olensky and Dossey are not alone amongst alternative medicine proponents in having missed the point which Leibovici was making. In 2004, Stephen Wright described the Olshansky and Dossey contribution as a "thoughtful essay,"[37] and it was praised by an editorial in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine the same year.[38] In 2005, Olshansky and Dossey's work was included in a critical review published in Explore which concluded that "Religious activity may improve health outcomes."[39] Their work was also defended in the British Medical Journal itself in 2004.[40] Dossey authored an Explore paper defending experiments on the medical effects of prayer in 2005.[41]

The MANTRA study

A 2005 MANTRA (Monitoring and Actualisation of Noetic Trainings) II study conducted a three-year clinical trial led by Duke University comparing intercessory prayer and MIT (Music, Imagery, and Touch) therapies for 748 cardiology patients. The study is regarded as the first time rigorous scientific protocols were applied on a large scale to assess the feasibility of intercessory prayer and other healing practices. The study produced null results and the authors concluded, "Neither masked prayer nor MIT therapy significantly improved clinical outcome after elective catheterization or percutaneous coronary intervention."[42] Neither study specified whether photographs were used or whether belief levels were measured in the agents or those performing the prayers.

The STEP project

Harvard professor Herbert Benson performed a "Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP)" in 2006.[43] The STEP, commonly called the "Templeton Foundation prayer study" or "Great Prayer Experiment", used 1,802 coronary artery bypass surgery patients at six hospitals. Using double-blind protocols, patients were randomized into three groups, individual prayer receptiveness was not measured. The members of the experimental and control Groups 1 and 2 were informed they might or might not receive prayers, and only Group 1 received prayers. Group 3, which served as a test for possible psychosomatic effects, was informed they would receive prayers and subsequently did. Unlike some other studies, STEP attempted to standardize the prayer method. Only first names and last initial for patients were provided and no photographs were supplied. Catholics and members of the New Thought church Silent Unity who prayed for the patients "were allowed to pray in their own manner, but they were instructed to include the following phrase in their prayers: "for a successful surgery with a quick, healthy recovery and no complications".[44] Some participants complained that this mechanical way they were told to pray as part of the experiment was unusual for them. Complications of surgery occurred in 52 percent of those who received prayer (Group 1), 51 percent of those who did not receive it (Group 2), and 59 percent of patients who knew they would receive prayers (Group 3). There were no statistically significant differences in major complications or thirty-day mortality. In The God Delusion, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins wrote, "It seems more probable that those patients who knew they were being prayed for suffered additional stress in consequence: performance anxiety', as the experimenters put it. Dr Charles Bethea, one of the researchers, said, "It may have made them uncertain, wondering am I so sick they had to call in their prayer team?'"[45] Study co-author Jeffery Dusek stated that: "Each study builds on others, and STEP advanced the design beyond what had been previously done. The findings, however, could well be due to the study limitations."[46] Team leader Benson stated that STEP was not the last word on the effects of intercessory prayer and that questions raised by the study will require additional answers.[47]

Literature reviews

A meta-analysis of several studies related to distant intercessory healing was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2000.[48] The authors analyzed 23 trials of 2,774 patients. Five of the trials were for prayer as the distant healing method, 11 were with noncontact touch, and 7 were other forms. Of these trials, 13 showed statistically significant beneficial treatment results, 9 showed no effect, and 1 showed a negative result. The authors concluded that it is difficult to draw conclusions regarding distant healing and suggested further studies.[48]

A 2003 levels of evidence review found "some" evidence for the hypothesis that "Being prayed for improves physical recovery from acute illness".[49] It concluded that although "a number of studies" have tested this hypothesis, "only three have sufficient rigor for review here" (Byrd 1988, Harris et al. 1999, and Sicher et al. 1998). In all three, "the strongest findings were for the variables that were evaluated most subjectively. This raises concerns about the possible inadvertent unmasking of the outcomes assessors. Moreover, the absence of a clearly plausible biological mechanism by which such a treatment could influence hard medical outcome results in the inclination to be skeptical of results." This 2003 review was performed before the 2005 MANTRA study and the 2006 STEP project, neither of which were conclusive in establishing the efficacy of prayer.

Various broader meta-studies of the literature in the field have been performed showing evidence only for no effect or a potentially small effect. For instance, a 2006 meta analysis on 14 studies concluded that "There is no scientifically discernable effect for intercessory prayer as assessed in controlled studies".[1] However, a 2007 systemic review of 17 intercessory prayer studies found "small, but significant, effect sizes for the use of intercessory prayer" in 7 studies, but "prayer was unassociated with positive improvement in the condition of client" in the other 10, concluding that based upon the American Psychology Association's Division 12 (clinical psychology) criteria for evidence-based practice, intercessory prayer "must be classified as an experimental intervention." The review noted that the most methodologically rigorous studies had failed to produce significant findings.[2] Statistical trends in an additional 5 of the 17 studies favored the prayer group over the control group.[2]

See also

References
  1. Masters, K.; Spielmans, G.; Goodson, J. (Aug 2006). "Are there demonstrable effects of distant intercessory prayer? A meta-analytic review". Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 32 (1): 21–6. doi:10.1207/s15324796abm3201_3. PMID 16827626. S2CID 3672308.
  2. Hodge, David R. (2007). "A Systematic Review of the Empirical Literature on Intercessory Prayer". Research on Social Work Practice. 17 (2): 174–187. doi:10.1177/1049731506296170. S2CID 43547918.
  3. Boorstein, Michelle. Researchers Stepping Up Study of Health And Religiosity, Washington Post, 6 December 2008.
  4. Francis Galton, Statistical Inquiries into the Efficacy of Prayer, The Fortnightly Review, August 1, 1872 (from abelard.org)
  5. Dawkins, Richard (2006). The God Delusion. London: Bantam Press. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-618-68000-9.
  6. Byrd RC (July 1988). "Positive therapeutic effects of intercessory prayer in a coronary care unit population". Southern Medical Journal. 81 (7): 826–9. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.621.290. doi:10.1097/00007611-198807000-00005. PMID 3393937. S2CID 12892611.
  7. Chamberlain and Hall 2001, 34
  8. Complementary Therapies in Rehabilitation: Evidence for Efficacy in Therapy by Carol M. Davis 2008 ISBN 1-55642-866-9 page 363
  9. Harris WS, Gowda M, Kolb JW, et al. (October 1999). "A randomized, controlled trial of the effects of remote, intercessory prayer on outcomes in patients admitted to the coronary care unit". Archives of Internal Medicine. 159 (19): 2273–8. doi:10.1001/archinte.159.19.2273. PMID 10547166.
  10. Harris et al. 1999, 2273
  11. Tessman I, Tessman J (March–April 2000). "Efficacy of Prayer: A Critical Examination of Claims". Skeptical Inquirer. 24 (2): 31–3. ISSN 1940-6703.
  12. Richard P. Sloan, 2006, Blind Faith: The Unholy Alliance of Religion and Medicine, St. Martin's Press, p. 172.
  13. O'Laoire S (November 1997). "An experimental study of the effects of distant, intercessory prayer on self-esteem, anxiety, and depression". Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. 3 (6): 38–53. PMID 9375429.
  14. Sicher, F; Targ, E; Moore D, 2nd; Smith, HS (December 1998). "A randomized double-blind study of the effect of distant healing in a population with advanced AIDS. Report of a small scale study". The Western Journal of Medicine. 169 (6): 356–63. PMC 1305403. PMID 9866433.
  15. Textbook of Integrative Mental Health Care by James Lake 2006 ISBN 1-58890-299-4 page 112
  16. Handbook of Complementary and Alternative Therapies in Mental Health edited by Scott Shannon 2001 Academic Press ISBN 0-12-638281-6 page 259
  17. Bronson, Po (December 1, 2002). "A Prayer Before Dying". Wired. 10 (12). Archived from the original on 2017-10-17. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  18. Astin, J.; Stone, J.; Abrams, D.; Moore, D.; Couey, P.; Buscemi, R.; Targ, E. (2006). "The efficacy of distant healing for human immunodeficiency virus--results of a randomized trial". Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. 12 (6): 36–41. PMID 17131980.
  19. Aviles JM, Whelan SE, Hernke DA, et al. (December 2001). "Intercessory prayer and cardiovascular disease progression in a coronary care unit population: a randomized controlled trial" (PDF). Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 76 (12): 1192–8. doi:10.4065/76.12.1192. PMID 11761499. S2CID 7300728.
  20. Cha KY, Wirth DP, Lobo RA (2001). "Does prayer influence the success of in vitro fertilization–embryo transfer? report of a masked, randomized trial". J Reprod Med. 46 (9): 781–787. PMID 11584476. (The journal has removed the paper from its site, but is available here; the name of Lobo was also retracted from Pubmed)
  21. Eisner R (2001). "Prayer may influence in vitro fertilization success". Columbia News. (This document was removed from the site after 2 years)
  22. Flamm BL (2005). "Prayer and the success of IVF". J Reprod Med. 50 (1): 71. PMID 15730180.
  23. "Nov2004: Clarification: Influence of Prayer on IVF-ET".
  24. https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/detrm_letrs/dec01f.pdf
  25. Flamm B (2005). "The bizarre Columbia University 'Miracle' saga continues". Skeptical Inquirer. 29 (2).
  26. "Columbia University 'Miracle' Study". www.improvingmedicalstatistics.com. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
  27. Harris, Paul (2004-05-30). "Exposed: conman's role in prayer-power IVF 'miracle'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
  28. Leibovici L (2001). "Effects of remote, retroactive intercessory prayer on outcomes in patients with bloodstream infection: randomised controlled trial". BMJ. 323 (7327): 1450–1. doi:10.1136/bmj.323.7327.1450. PMC 61047. PMID 11751349.
  29. Thornett AM (April 2002). "Effect of retroactive intercessory prayer. Cautious approach is needed". BMJ. 324 (7344): 1037, author reply 1038–9. doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7344.1037. PMC 1122963. PMID 11976252.
  30. Leibovici, Leonard (March 12, 2002). "Author's Comments". BMJ. British Medical Journal. 323 (7327): 1450–1451. doi:10.1136/bmj.323.7327.1450. PMC 61047. PMID 11751349. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  31. Bishop, Jeffrey P.; Stenger, Victor J. (2004). "Retroactive prayer: lots of history, not much mystery, and no science". Br. Med. J. 329 (7480): 1444–1446. doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7480.1444. PMC 535973. PMID 15604179.
  32. Gorski, David (January 11, 2010). "Be careful what you wish for, Dr. Dossey, you just might get it". Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  33. Olshansky, Brian; Dossey, Larry (2003). "Retroactive prayer: a preposterous hypothesis?". Br. Med. J. 327 (7429): 1465–1468. doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7429.1465. PMC 300811. PMID 14684651.
  34. Dossey, Larry (2015). "Nonlocal Mind: A (Fairly) Brief History of the Term". Explore. 11 (2): 89–101. doi:10.1016/j.explore.2014.12.001. PMID 25812781.
  35. Einstein, Albert; Podolsky, Boris; Rosen, Nathan (1935). "Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?". Phys. Rev. 47 (10): 777–780. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.47.777.
  36. Olshansky, Brian; Dossey, Larry (2004). "All Rapid Responses – Retroactive prayer: A preposterous hypothesis?". BMJ. British Medical Journal. 327 (7429): 1465–1468. doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7429.1465. PMC 300811. PMID 14684651. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  37. Wright, Stephen (2004). "Digest – a review of research, literature, music and media". Spir. Health Int. 5 (3): 182–185. doi:10.1002/shi.282.
  38. Jobst, Kim A. (2004). "Science and Healing: From Bioelectromagnetics to the Medicine of Light. Implications, Phenomena, and Deep Transformation". J. Altern. Complement. Med. 10 (1): 1–3. doi:10.1089/acm.2004.10.S-1. PMID 15025869.
  39. Çoruh, Başak; Ayele, Hana; Pugh, Meredith; Mulligan, Thomas (2005). "Does Religious Activity Improve Health Outcomes? A Critical Review of the Recent Literature". Explore. 1 (3): 186–191. doi:10.1016/j.explore.2005.02.001. PMID 16781528.
  40. Roy, Rustum (January 19, 2004). "A Scientist's Perspective". British Medical Journal. Retrieved December 19, 2016. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  41. Dossey, Larry; Hufford, David J. (2005). "Are prayer experiments legitimate? Twenty criticisms". Explore. 1 (2): 109–117. doi:10.1016/j.explore.2004.12.004. PMID 16781511.
  42. Krucoff MW, Crater SW, Gallup D, et al. (2005). "Music, imagery, touch, and prayer as adjuncts to interventional cardiac care: the Monitoring and Actualisation of Noetic Trainings (MANTRA) II randomised study". Lancet. 366 (9481): 211–7. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)66910-3. PMID 16023511. S2CID 18281837.
  43. Benson H, Dusek JA, Sherwood JB, et al. (April 2006). "Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in cardiac bypass patients: a multicenter randomized trial of uncertainty and certainty of receiving intercessory prayer". American Heart Journal. 151 (4): 934–42. doi:10.1016/j.ahj.2005.05.028. PMID 16569567. Lay summary (PDF) – John Templeton Foundation (April 5, 2006).
  44. Shermer, Michael (April 5, 2006). "Prayer & Healing: The Verdict is in and the Results are Null". ESkeptic. ISSN 1556-5696.
  45. Richard Dawkins (2006). "The Great Prayer Experiment". The God Delusion. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 87–88. ISBN 0547348665.
  46. Harvard Medical School News Release Archived 2006-04-09 at the Wayback Machine
  47. Harvard Gazette April 6, 2006 "Prayers don't help heart surgery patients; Some fare worse when prayed for".
  48. John A. Astin, et al. The Efficacy of "Distant Healing" A Systematic Review of Randomized Trials Annals of Internal Medicine June 6, 2000 vol. 132 no. 11 903-910
  49. Powell LH, Shahabi L, Thoresen CE (January 2003). "Religion and spirituality. Linkages to physical health". The American Psychologist. 58 (1): 36–52. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.404.4403. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.58.1.36. PMID 12674817.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.