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Spiritual healing
Spiritual healing

People use this for...

Spiritual healing is most often the use of prayer to treat or prevent illness. Spiritual healing is used for all kinds of medical conditions including depression, anxiety, stress, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), leukemia, fibromyalgia, stroke recovery, congestive heart failure, surgery recovery, coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, substance abuse, alcoholism, smoking cessation, cardiovascular disease, and many others.

Safety Safety definitions

Likely Safe ...when used appropriately. Spiritual healing has been safely used in clinical studies, and there is no know reason to expect any adverse outcomes (16202,16204,16205,28069,28094,88723,88725,88727,88729,88731)(88733,88734).

Children: LIKELY SAFE when used appropriately. Spiritual healing has been safely used in children, and there is no reason to expect adverse outcomes (88728).

Pregnancy And Lactation: Insufficient reliable information available; however, there is no known reason to expect any adverse effects.

Effectiveness Effectiveness definitions

INSUFFICIENT RELIABLE EVIDENCE TO RATE

Alcoholism. Preliminary clinical research shows that spiritual healing through intercessory prayer does not significantly reduce alcohol consumption in patients undergoing alcohol abuse treatment (16202).

Asthma. Preliminary clinical research suggests that spiritual healing along with usual care does not improve quality of life, anxiety, depression, or respiratory function compared to usual care alone in adults with asthma (88723).

Atopic dermatitis (eczema). Preliminary clinical research suggests that Johrei, a specific form of spiritual healing including "energy channeling" and light massage, does not improve skin conditions in children with atopic dermatitis (88728).

Cardiac bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Preliminary clinical research shows that spiritual healing through intercessory prayer does not significantly reduce complications following surgery compared to no prayer. Interestingly, patients who believed they were receiving intercessory prayer, but did not, had a slightly increased risk of complications (16204).

Coronary heart disease. Preliminary clinical research shows that spiritual healing through intercessory prayer reduces the need for ventilator support and drug therapy with antibiotics or diuretics compared to no prayer in patients undergoing coronary care; however, prayer did not result in reduced hospital stay (16202).

HIV/AIDS. Preliminary clinical research shows that spiritual healing through distant prayer does not improve the number of hospital visits, AIDS-related illnesses, mood state, quality of life, or HIV/AIDS-related blood parameters in patients with HIV/AIDS (88729).

Hypertension. Preliminary clinical research suggests that spiritual healing by laying on of hands or distance healing does not reduce blood pressure compared to no intervention controls in patients with hypertension (28094).

Leukemia. Preliminary clinical research shows that spiritual healing through intercessory prayer for 15 months does not significantly reduce death rate in children with leukemia (16202).

Neck pain. Preliminary clinical research shows that spiritual healing, three weekly sessions for 30 minutes each, significantly improves range of motion and pain compared to no spiritual healing in patients with restricted neck movement (88731).

Pain. Preliminary clinical research shows that neither face-to-face healing nor distant healing significantly improves pain compared to placebo in patients with chronic neuropathic or nociceptive pain (28069). Additional preliminary research suggests that, while spiritual healing does not improve pain or reduce reliance on analgesic medications, it might decrease feelings of hopelessness in patients with idiopathic chronic pain syndrome (88727).

Psychiatric disorders. Preliminary clinical reports suggest that adding spiritual healing to psychotherapy might improve sense of well-being and relaxation in psychiatric patients with diverse and long-standing psychiatric disorders (88732).

Quality of life. Preliminary clinical research suggests that 10 weekly sessions of spiritual healing might improve general function, symptoms, anxiety, and depression in patients with chronic health conditions (88725).

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Preliminary clinical research suggests that adding spiritual healing to conventional therapy for six months does not improve symptoms in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (88733).

Temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ). Preliminary clinical research suggest that spiritual healing provided by shamanic healers for five sessions might improve pain and function in women with temporomandibular joint dysfunction (88734). However, a lack of control limits the validity of these findings. More evidence is needed to rate spiritual healing for these uses.

Natural Medicines rates effectiveness based on scientific evidence according to the following scale: Effective, Likely Effective, Possibly Effective, Possibly Ineffective, Likely Ineffective, Ineffective, and Insufficient Evidence to Rate.

Dosing & administration

    Adverse effects

    Interactions with pharmaceuticals

    None known.

    Interactions with herbs & supplements

    None known.

    Interactions with foods

    None known.

    Interactions with lab tests

    None known.

    Interactions with diseases

    None known.

    Mechanism of action

    Spiritual healing, also commonly referred to as faith healing, is most often the intentional use of prayer to treat or prevent disease; however, other methods of spiritual healing are also used such as spiritual insights, laying on of hands, and meditation.
    Spiritual healing using prayer can take several forms. Different types of prayer may be used for different purposes.
    "Conversational prayer" is an informal prayer or conversation with God or a higher power seeking guidance, asking for health, and expressing thanks. "Meditative prayer" uses meditation on spiritual ideas in attempt to reach a better understanding of God or a higher power. "Ritual prayer" is the recitation of standard, well-known prayers. "Intercessory prayer" is prayer used to benefit another by asking God or a higher power for help, guidance or counsel, and health (16200).
    Spiritual healing, especially intercessory prayer, has been the subject of clinical trials; however, these trials have produced inconsistent findings and most have had significant methodological flaws. Some experts argue that attempting to objectify and quantify supernatural spiritual activity in a clinical trial is a failed concept because of substantial inter-individual variability and the inability to control for placebo effects (16203).
    Prayer might have therapeutic effects through a variety of possible mechanisms. Meditative and other types of prayer might result in relaxation including a slowed heart and breathing rate and reduced blood pressure. Prayer might also be associated with a large placebo effect. Prayer may also improve positive emotions, resulting improved feelings of well-being (16200,16203).

    References

    16200Jantos M, Kiat H. Prayer as medicine: how much have we learned. Med J Aust 2007;186:S51-S53. View abstract.
    16202Astin JA, Harkness E, Ernst E. The efficacy of "distant healing:" A systematic review of randomized trials. Ann Intern Med 2000;132:903-10. View abstract.
    16203Gaudia G. About intercessory prayer: the scientific study of miracles. MedGenMed 2007:9:56. View abstract.
    16204Benson H, Dusek JA, Sherwood JB, et al. Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in cardiac bypass patients: a multicenter randomized trial of uncertainty and certainty of receiving intercessory prayer. Am Heart J 2006;151:934-42. View abstract.
    16205Palmer RF, Katerndahl D, Morgan-Kidd J. A randomized trial of the effects of remote intercessory prayer: interactions wtih personal beliefs on problem-specific outcomes and functional status. J Altern Complement Med 2004;10:438-48. View abstract.
    28069Abbot, N. C., Harkness, E. F., Stevinson, C., Marshall, F. P., Conn, D. A., and Ernst, E. Spiritual healing as a therapy for chronic pain: a randomized, clinical trial. Pain 2001;91(1-2):79-89. View abstract.
    28094Crawford, C. C., Sparber, A. G., and Jonas, W. B. A systematic review of the quality of research on hands-on and distance healing: clinical and laboratory studies. Altern Ther Health Med 2003;9(3 Suppl):A96-104. View abstract.
    88723Cleland JA, Price DB, Lee AJ, et al. A pragmatic, three-arm randomised controlled trial of spiritual healing for asthma in primary care. Br J Gen Pract 2006;56(527):444-9. View abstract.
    88725Dixon M. Does 'healing' benefit patients with chronic symptoms? A quasi-randomized trial in general practice. J R Soc Med 1998;91(4):183-8. View abstract.
    88727Sundblom DM, Haikonen S, Niemi-Pynttari J, Tigerstedt I. Effect of spiritual healing on chronic idiopathic pain: a medical and psychological study. Clin J Pain 1994;10(4):296-302. View abstract.
    88728Canter PH, Brown LB, Greaves C, Ernst E. Johrei family healing: a pilot study. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2006;3(4):533-40. View abstract.
    88729Astin JA, Stone J, Abrams DI, et al. The efficacy of distant healing for human immunodeficiency virus--results of a randomized trial. Altern Ther Health Med 2006;12(6):36-41. View abstract.
    88731Gerard S, Smith BH, Simpson JA. A randomized controlled trial of spiritual healing in restricted neck movement. J Altern Complement Med 2003;9(4):467-77. View abstract.
    88732Messerli-Rohrbach V, Bosch J. [Spiritual healing at a public psychiatric institution]. Forsch Komplementarmed Klass Naturheilkd 2000;7(6):275-85. View abstract.
    88733le Gallez P, Dimmock S, Bird H. A. Spiritual healing as adjunct therapy for rheumatoid arthritis. Br J Nurs 2000;9(11):695-700. View abstract.
    88734Vuckovic NH, Gullion CM, Williams LA, et al. Feasibility and short-term outcomes of a shamanic treatment for temporomandibular joint disorders. Altern Ther Health Med 2007;13(6):18-29. View abstract.
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    This monograph was last reviewed on 15/05/2019 22:55:31 and last updated on 18/06/2015 03:06:28. Monographs are reviewed and/or updated multiple times per month and at least once per year.
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