Health warning: Praying for the sick makes them feel even worse

[WhiteTara]

I love this. One week it's pray pray pray and now. We've got nothing. These people are SOO funny
http://news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=515352006
:rofl:
RAYING for hospital patients can make their illnesses worse and lead to significant post-operative complications, new research has found.

The biggest study into the relationship between prayer and healing found that, on the whole, prayers offered by strangers had no effect on patients' recovery.



But heart surgery patients who knew people were praying for them ended up with a higher rate of post-operative complications, such as abnormal heart rhythms. Researchers suggested this was perhaps due to the anxiety of knowing others were praying for their recovery.

In the past decade, scientists have carried out at least ten studies into the effects of prayer, and some have shown that "intercessory prayer" - prayer by strangers - can accelerate healing in patients.

The new study, involving more than 1,800 patients over ten years and costing about £1.5 million, was intended to overcome flaws in the earlier investigations and end years of speculation in both the medical and religious communities.

[Neil Lisst]

1. well, that sucks!!

there goes my backup medical plan!

[Glenda]

16. LOL!

Mine too

[Neil Lisst]

18. Maybe they were doin' it wrong!! Just to be safe ...

I'm gonna keep doin' it!

[paul_fromatlanta]

2. These studies assume God will cooperate with a study

That is not a safe bet.

Also these studies are not able to judge the quality or sincerity of the prayer.

[Poiuyt]

3. I guess that explains why Terri Sciavo died

[Kerrytravelers]

4. Shhh. Don't tell the fundies!

It'll get their undies in a bunch! :crazy: Must be part of the War on Christians!!!!!!!!!!!!! :rofl:

[DanCa]

5. Can't we leave sick people alone in this country?

I mean really exploitting sick people is what the Sean Hannity's of the world do. Remember he exploited a woman on her death bed.

[OzarkDem]

17. Well said

We've reached new heights in judging sick people as well, blaming them for their own illnesses, blaming them for not having health insurance,etc.

[The Traveler]

6. Shocking news

The signficant (and surprising) finding is that mental activity of person A can affect the physical state of person B. Regrettably, that effect is the reverse of the effect intended, perhaps providing further evidence for the old cliche "the road to hell is paved with good intentions". Or perhaps the study and its methods are completely screwed up? Because their explanation for this signal is laughable.

Yeah, bud. I'm recovering from a serious life threatening condition. The idea that you might be praying for me causes me loads of anxiety. Yeah. Sure.

It seems to me the outcome of these studies reflect the belief structures of the people performing them and shed little light on the truth of matters. This study is crap. The studies it intended to refute were also crap.

[incapsulated]

8. Although I agree these studies are crap...

I disagree that the idea of a lot of people praying for you may not have the unindented effect of causing stress. It can open up a whole can of worms for the person on the receiving end, their ideas about God, whether they are "worthy" enough to receive some miracle, thinking that if they don't get better, their own beliefs would be conflicted etc.

What makes these kinds of studies crap is that these subtleties are never taken into consideration. It's always binary. People are complex and mysterious creatures.

[SoCalDem]

7. I had to get tough with my mother-in-law over this very thing

Our oldest had to have many surgeries as a baby and young boy, and I would go ballistic when she called him "Gramma's poor little angel".. He had to be extra strong to endure it all and we were NOT about to let ANYONE try to make him feel sorry for himself..

She was so angry at me, but we stuck to our guns and told her she would not be allowed to visit if she didn't stop it.. She did..

he came through it all and is now a happily married 32 yr old with a fantastic career..the doctors he has seen over the years have marvelled at how well adjusted he is, considering all that he went through.

[petronius]

9. They didn't bother to mention whether the difference in complication rates

between the 'prayed-fors' and the 'maybes' was statistically significant, or whether it was within the range of random chance. It would also be nice to know the complication rate for the 'non-prayed' group as compared to the others. My bet is that there was in fact no significant difference between any of them, but the irony of the (probably due to random chance) difference between the two groups mentioned was worth a few inches of ink...

[IChing]

10. If I pray for this thread will it get worse?

Positive Mental visualization to change realties is well supported within the science communities.

Messages of the water.

http://www.cymaticsource.com/water.html

The understanding in quantum physics that the observer is also a change in the observation .

"There is no reality in the absence of observation."
- The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics


See I prayed and my post made this thread worse

[Kailassa]

11. I'd want to see an experiment repeated many, many times

before I believed that subjecting water to pictures of sacred sites was going to affect the type of ice crystals it formed.

[flordehinojos]

12. that is absolutely not true ... i am a living testament that prayer not

only helps. it heals!

[malaise]

13. In my living will

I made it clear that I want absolutely no one from any religion to enter my hospital room and pray. All these facting strangers invading your privacy is simply disgusting.
Sp.

[LizW]

15. Do not, under any circumstances, get sick in the south

Even the "secular" hospitals have chaplains who come in and ask to pray over the patients.

When my dad was terminally ill in 1989, preachers who had never met him actually came into the room and tried to "save" him before he died.

It was insulting. My dad was a good person AND a believer in God. I was outraged that these preachers who knew nothing of his life and his beliefs pressured him to make some dying declaration of faith, just so they could all feel fulfilled.

[Buns_of_Fire]

14. So, all the prayers from the RW for their Godly Commander Codpiece

are having their effect?

Beware the law of unintended consequences.

(edited because I can't spell)