(January 3, 2017 at 12:39 pm)Aegon Wrote: Well, there are studies that examine the "healing power of prayer" in a medical setting. In triple-blind, randomized controlled trials they determined that prayer helped heal, had no impact, or made it worse. So... what you'd expect from something that doesn't do anything, I guess. But the study does outline the reasons that prayer might be beneficial, and why it may have been beneficial for those it benefited:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2802370/
While they deal a bit with placebo effects in the section "Mechanisms of healing through prayer" pretty much all of the studies they cite are double-blind RCTs with remote intercessory prayer. Great for testing whether supernatural stuff works, not so good when it comes to the placebo effect - which isen't really dealt with beyond the brief section I mentioned.
Here's what they said about the placebo response btw:
"Clinically significant treatment gains have been observed with placebo in numerous disorders, including anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, tardive dyskinesia, ischemic heart disease, cardiac failure, Parkinson's disease and even cancer, among a host of other conditions.[14–20] Relevant to the context of prayer and healing, the placebo response is influenced by personality traits and behaviors such as optimism,[21,22] response expectancy,[23] motivational concordance (i.e., the degree to which the behavioral rituals of the therapy are congruent with the motivational system of the subject)[24] and degree of engagement with a ritual.[25]"
Quote:But really, it has a place for those who thinks it should have a place. It's that simple. I have a plethora of health problems, and I see so many people around me in hospital waiting rooms clutching a rosary or a cross. If you're, say, Christian, then of course God will be an important part of your life when you combat a serious illness. As long as they're not neglecting legitimate medical treatment in favor of a prayer circle, then they can do whatever they want to feel at peace with themselves.
Well, my idea with this thread is to argue that interventions that cause placebo effects can be/become legitimate medical treatments. Some rituals - including religious ones - can on that basis be a potent part of treatment for some conditions.
