Prayer really does work! Dr Fenwick made some startling observations on his research for the Efficacy of Prayer.
“One of the early indications of the general acknowledgement of the relevance of spirituality was a paper on prayer (Byrd et al. 1988), which showed that patients in a coronary care unit who were prayed for had shorter in-patient stays, fewer complications and a reduced drug usage. Prayer is a widespread practice in the US: Newsweek found in a 1992 survey that nine of ten Americans prayed at least once a week. In 1994 Life magazine found the same proportion believed that God answers their prayers, while Time found in 1996 that 82% of Americans believe that prayer heals. And maybe they are right.” Dr Peter Fenwick
Peter Fenwick suggests that the attitude of the person praying is all-important. He points to sufficient studies now to show that prayer does work, and suggests that the evidence and presence of prayer groups in a hospital setting should be considered.
About Dr Fenwick
Peter Fenwick, M.D., F.R.C.Psych.
Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, London, U.K.
Mental Health Group, University of Southampton, U.K.
Peter Fenwick, M.D., F.R.C.Psych., is Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, London, and associated with the Mental Health Group at the University of Southampton.
