We applaud Mitchell Krucoff and colleagues (July 16, p 211) and The Lancet editors for publishing an extensive, well controlled, multisite study on prayer and healing. The Article and accompanying Editorial note that prayer had no significant effect on outcome in 748 heart patients. Study of the intangible is challenging, and the researchers should be recognised for their insight and courage. H...

From t Submi Reprin Fulton E-mail: Am He 0002n 200 doi:10 and religion as irreconcilable antagonists. . . I maintain that cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest incitement to scientific research. . .Q Einstein, A. The World as I See It Systematic study of intangible bnoeticQ or bfrontier Q healing methods such as intercessory prayer, defined as bwidely practiced therapeutics with...

PURPOSE This study investigated the use of private prayer among middle-aged and older patients as a way of coping with cardiac surgery and prayer's relationship to optimism. DESIGN AND METHODS The measure of prayer included three aspects: (a) belief in the importance of private prayer, (b) faith in the efficacy of prayer on the basis of previous experiences, and (c) intention to use prayer to...

BACKGROUND Data from a pilot study suggested that noetic therapies-healing practices that are not mediated by tangible elements-can reduce preprocedural distress and might affect outcomes in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. We undertook a multicentre, prospective trial of two such practices: intercessory prayer and music, imagery, and touch (MIT) therapy. METHODS 748 pa...

The following text discusses the Department's proposed rollback methodology, as amended in its Preliminary Prayer (the Department's Prayer), and outlines the ways in which it is seriously flawed.

The objective of these studies was to determine the strength and direction of the relationship between prayer and gratitude. In Study 1 (n 674), the authors replicated the cross-sectional association between prayer frequency and gratitude that has been demonstrated in previous research. In Study 2 (n 780), prayer frequency predicted gratitude 6 weeks later even when controlling for initial grat...

Psychiatric patients (age 59+) were assessed before study treatment for major depressive disorder, and again after 3 months. Measures taken before study treatment included facets of religiousness (subjective religiosity, private prayer, worship attendance, and religious media use), social support, and perceived stress. Clinician-rated depression severity was assessed both before and after treat...

Religious symptoms have been recognized as a presentation of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) for centuries. The two main treatment strategies for OCD, cognitive behavior therapy (exposure and response prevention [ERP]), and SSRIs have been shown to be effective in religious OCD. The presentation of religious OCD within formal prayer, reported in Judaism and Islam, poses special challenges o...

Previous research has indicated that the physical actions of prayer are especially salient for preschool-aged children, and children in this age range tend to associate prayer with communicating with God. As the context in which children learn about new concepts impacts on how children come to understand those concepts, and children are often introduced to the concept of God through prayer, the...