An Indiana University study of people in Africa has shown the power of prayer to heal.
-- From "Healing power of prayer may exist" posted at WWLP-TV 22 News (Chicopee, MA) 8/5/10
A new study suggests prayers may truly be answered if you're in close proximity to the patient.
Researchers found when people said healing prayers physically close to the patients, some saw improvements in their conditions.
It's unclear how it might work, and researchers said more studies are needed.
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From "Can Hands-On Prayer Help Heal?" by Amanda Gardner, HealthDay Reporter (posted at Business Week) 8/5/10
An older Mozambican woman named Maryam could not see two fingers held up just one foot in front of her when she arrived for a Pentecostal prayer intervention in her village. Nor could she see an eye chart from a similarly close distance.
But after a healer at the evangelical meeting laid hands on her and prayed for less than a minute, Maryam was able to not only see the fingers held up in front of her but could count them as well. The eye chart also came into view, with Maryam able to read down to the 20/125 line.
The experiences of Maryam and 23 other Mozambicans, part of a study reported in the September issue of the Southern Medical Journal, a peer-reviewed journal, suggest to the researchers that "proximal intercessory prayer (PIP)" -- in which the healer is in close proximity to the patient, often touching or hugging him or her -- may be a useful complement to Western medical practice.
In this study, the degree of improvement seen in people with vision and hearing impairments was more than that seen previously in hypnosis and suggestion studies, the team noted.
The investigators found improvement across the group of participants.
One physician believes prayer may have some as-yet-unexplained power to heal.
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