The Benefits of Prayer

Prayer is usually associated with spiritual practice and is a common aspect of the lives of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, etc.  But even without the religious component, there are still benefits.

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Psychology studies indicate that prayer is associated with positive mental health benefits.  In one study, those who prayed have fewer depressive symptoms.  In another study, 80% indicated that prayer improved their mental health.  Prayer tends to impart hope, reduces stress, reduced anxiety and improves quality of life.

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Prayers for others can also have similar effects for the recipient of the prayer.  Just knowing that someone cares enough for you can lead to positive outcomes.

In medical research, prayer has been shown to induce both psychological and biological changes.  Some of the changes are similar to the placebo effect while others are similar to those found in mediation.  Regardless, prayer as an individual and recipient effect.

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.

Prayer may be associated with improvements that result from spontaneous remission, regression to the mean, nonspecific psychosocial support, the Hawthorne effect and the Rosenthal effect.

It cannot be ruled out that prayer may result in benefits that are due to divine intervention.  There is a reason that most people believe in the spiritual and the extreme minority do not.

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