Is prayer harmful to those you pray for?

Question

In a long-awaited comprehensive scientific study on the effects of intersessory prayer on the health and recovery of 1,802 patients undergoing coronary bypass surgery in six different hospitals, prayers offered by strangers had no effect. In fact, contrary to common belief, patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate of post-operative complications such as abnormal heart rhythms, possibly the result of anxiety caused by learning that they were being prayed for and thus their condition was more serious than anticipated.

Harvard University Medical School - Dr. Herbert Benson, "The American Heart Journal"

The 1,802 patients were divided into three groups, two of which were prayed for by members of three congergations.

59% of patients who knew that they were being prayed for suffered complications, compared with 51% of those who were uncertian whether they were being prayed for or not, and 18% in the uninformed prayer group suffered major complications such as heart attack or stroke, compared with 13% in the group that received no prayers.

Herbert Benson has been a long-time believer in the power of prayer (I don't know if he still is after his 10 year study).

I have looked at (but did not include) two other studies on the positive effects of prayer. Both have been thoroughly debunked. - "Byrd's 'Postiive Therapeutic Effects of Intecessory Prayer in a Coronory Care Unit Population,' and the 2001 Columbia University study on in-vitro fertilization.

Answer 1

I've read someting similar to this and agree 5,000% that prayer never works.
It is nothing more than allowing people to have false hope..

If prayer "does work" as most religious people will state then another question could be asked.. Why did god NOT answer the prayers of everyone that was trapped in the World Trade Center on 9/11???

Answer 2

Actually, I'm a bit sceptical about both the positive and the negative effects of prayer. With one major caveat, it seems to me merely to be an insignificant cypher. Not being religious, I don't actually know how the thought that you are being prayed for effects the psychology of a religious person, but the true answer, of course, lies there.

Psychosomatics, the relationship between mind and body, is a science in its infancy, but it appears to be quite clear that a 'positive mindset' is a valuable tool against certain ailments. It appears to boost the immune system and possibly do other things that we're not aware of. This is the logic behind the so-called 'placebo effect'. If nothing else, to some people prayer can be a placebo. Yet almost anyone working in a convalescent home can report of the phenomenon, and success, of 'giving up'. (By success I mean that terminally ill people who 'give up' tend to die more quickly). If a person interprets prayer as 'putting my life in God's hands', then I guess they may in fact stop the mental fight. This could decrease their chance of survival.

So it all comes down to what the believer does, psychologically, with the information that people are praying for him. Thus, varying results from these kinds of experiments could merely show different sample groups. After all, this experiment by its very design cannot be double-blinded, so the expected margin of error is going to be too high to have much scientific validity.

Maybe one day they'll routinely give critically ill patients psychological testing to determine _what_ will give them positive feelings and the will to fight, and then apply that - be it prayer or something else. Then we'll have scientific research worth applying.

Answer 3

God, meaning the One God of the Bible, hears all prayers. But just like a good parent He doesn't say yes to every prayer. How could He? Yes isn't always the right answer to every prayer. God does not fit into a box of scientific reasoning, how could He be God if He did? You make it sound like one person praying can TELL God what to do instead of asking God for the best answer, even if it's not what you think you want.

Answer 4

No, prayer doesn't do anything at all. It doesn't help or hurt, it just wastes time. Those patients were hurt because of anxiety caused by the fact that they knew they were being prayed for, the prayers themselves had no effect whatsoever.

Answer 5

This is a good example of a study that doesn't provide any conclusive results. People's health generally benefits by being prayed for because your body is able to heal itself under the right conditions. This "comprehensive" study doesn't prove or disprove anything.

Answer 6

Logical reasoning suggests praying for an individual will not affect their fate at all ... however we do find correlations between the thoughts/emotions/mental state of the individual and their progress physically.

I believe the results of the study need to be confirmed through more rigorous examinations ... but they seem to imply belief in non-existant external help may be detrimental to the health of individuals who need to be more focused on ensuring their own survival.

Answer 7

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And there are also many studies done on the effect of prayer on medical conditions with the opposite conclusion.

Did you search for any of those? I doubt it. I bet you just wanted the one that supports your opinion.

You are just like the Christians in this regard, who pick and choose the bible verses that suit their arguments.

Answer 8

Remember, that these scientific studies are written by PEOPLE with OPINIONS.........I am one to say that prayer never hurt anyone, and I am sure that my prayers have helped myself and others at the times they were needed........Take care

Answer 9

Prayer affects people in different ways. my uncle was praying for my grandma to get out of the hospital, and one day told her to sign herself out, because god would take care of her. she died later that day. prayer from friends is what gave me a little will to hold on longer, but i believe god had nothing to do with it, its purely what you want to believe.

Answer 10

it's funny, you can find scientific testing that shows drastically different numbers in FAVOR of prayer. This is exactly why you can't trust science for answers.