Why doctors now believe faith heals
April 6, 2004 | 12:00am
Western medicine has typically ignored matters of faith in health, but that’s beginning to change, as recent headlines make clear. Studies are providing the first glimmers of evidence that the health of the spirit can indeed make a difference in the health of the body. And more and more medical schools are now offering classes on spirituality and medicine.
Just three years ago, a review of 29 separate studies concluded that religious involvement has an influence on longevity. Using data compiled from some 126,000 people, scientists at the US National Institute for Healthcare Research found that people with more religious involvement – for example, attending worship services frequently or spending spare time in religious activities – were almost 30 percent more likely to live longer than those who were less involved.
Religious beliefs have also appeared to improve recovery from serious medical illness. In a study of patients who had undergone open-heart surgery, those who reported that they drew strength and comfort from religion had only a third the risk of dying within six months of the surgery as those who didn’t.
The faithful seem to recover from depression more quickly, too. In a study of 87 older people who became depressed after a hospital stay, Duke University researchers found that those who scored high on a test of religious beliefs and experience bounced back more quickly than those with lower scores. Others suggest that religious people are less likely to become depressed in the first place.
Then, too, religious people may be healthier to start with, at least in certain ways. In another Duke study, this one of some 4,000 people over 65, people who attended services at least once a week – or frequently prayed or studied the Bible at least once a day – had slightly lower blood pressures than those who weren’t as religiously active. Those who did both were 40 percent less likely to have high diastolic blood pressure. Other studies have come up with similar blood pressure results.
There’s also some evidence that religious people may have stronger immune systems. In yet a third Duke study, people who attended religious services were about half as likely as non-attendees to have high levels of IL-6, an immune-system protein that can indicate the immune system isn’t functioning as well as it should.
The body of research is intriguing. But how can matters of the spirit translate into improvements in health? There are several plausible explanations.
• Healthier habits. One simple reason behind the health-faith link is "sin avoidance." Religious people often have relatively healthful lifestyles and thus are better protected against chronic disease. For instance, religious groups generally discourage excessive drinking, smoking, taking drugs, and engaging in risky sex practices. They also tend to encourage marriage, which in itself has been linked with longer life.
Treating their bodies as temples, so to speak, may also lead religious people to be more likely to follow their doctors’ advice. In the Duke blood pressure study, for instance, religiously active people who knew that their blood pressure was high were more likely to be taking medication for it. The authors suggest that religious beliefs may lead people to comply with treatments by fostering more cooperative attitudes or by "promoting respect and care for the body."
• Social bonds. Another important health aspect of organized religion is that it increases one’s social circle. Being part of a congregation can provide a person with emotional support, strong friendships, and a sense of purpose, say, through volunteering or helping others via church, temple, or mosque programs. And those emotional lifts, in turn, can buffer the harmful effects of stress, anxiety, and depression.
• Stress reduction. Religiously active people appear to reap particularly strong benefits from lower stress levels. For example, the Duke study authors theorize that religious activity helps to lower blood pressure by reducing stress and anxiety in people’s lives. High blood pressure has been linked not just with stress but also with anxiety and repressed hostility, they point out. Religious practices, on the other hand, go together with a greater sense of well-being, higher life satisfaction, lower anxiety, and better coping ability.
Prayer and religious reading in particular can have a calming effect that works to lower stress. For instance, during repetitive prayer, such as when Catholics pray the rosary, it has been noted that this "evokes physiological changes in the body, slowing or lowering metabolism, blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing," says Herbert A. Benson, MD, professor at Harvard Medical School and author of the popular book, The Relaxation Response (Harper Torch).
• Better coping with adverse events. Connection to a religious tradition can help people handle the unexpected upsets that life often brings. Religious beliefs "affect your whole world view, especially if you’re devoutly committed," says Harold G. Koenig, MD, director of Duke’s Center for the Study of Religion/Spirituality and Health. "They "help you understand and interpret negative life situations, like loss or illness. They help you to cope, to get on with life and grow from the experience."
Perhaps it’s because the devout have confidence in a loving God and, thus, a more positive outlook in life. In the Duke study on recovery from depression after a medical illness, religion appeared to have a particularly strong ability to lift the spirits of people whose health had worsened or failed to improve after their illness had run its course. "Religious faith may provide such persons with a series of hope that things will turn out all right regardless of their problems and, thus, foster greater motivation to achieve emotional recovery," they write.
Religion may also help because it promotes self-esteem of a kind that doesn’t depend on health or money. Depression, not surprisingly, often arises from difficulties adjusting to the discomfort, disability, and loss of control brought on by an illness. But Duke’s depression study authors point out that people whose religion drives their behavior and decisions may be more able to cope with illness (or financial hardship) "because their self-esteem and sense of well-being are not tied to their material circumstances."
Doctors typically don’t broach matters of religion with patients. Mainly, they worry that raising such issues would violate an individual’s privacy or feel that religious discussion does not belong in the doctor-patient relationship.
Richard Sloan, PhD, director of the Behavioral Medicine Program, in New York’s Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, certainly thinks so. The doctor’s medical expertise gives them a strong influence over their patients, he argues, and he questions whether physicians should veer away from the medical realm into the religious arena. Religion, like marital or financial matters, is too private and personal to be the object of medical intervention, he says, and doctors who dwell on a religion-health link could do harm by implying that the less devout are shortchanging themselves health-wise.
The trend, however, is against such belief. More and more medical schools all over the world, especially the United States and Europe, are offering courses that explore the relationship between spirituality and health and teach students how to address religious issues in patient care.
Although researchers will continue to investigate the links between faith and health, people who already accept the fact that belief can console and heal don’t need scientific studies to convince them. They feel that those who are skeptical may find the results intriguing, but science may never be able to fully assuage their doubts.
The best part, I think, about medicine’s growing interest in faith is that some patients may finally get what they have been yearning for: Doctors who recognize the needs of the soul as well as those of the body.
Just three years ago, a review of 29 separate studies concluded that religious involvement has an influence on longevity. Using data compiled from some 126,000 people, scientists at the US National Institute for Healthcare Research found that people with more religious involvement – for example, attending worship services frequently or spending spare time in religious activities – were almost 30 percent more likely to live longer than those who were less involved.
Religious beliefs have also appeared to improve recovery from serious medical illness. In a study of patients who had undergone open-heart surgery, those who reported that they drew strength and comfort from religion had only a third the risk of dying within six months of the surgery as those who didn’t.
The faithful seem to recover from depression more quickly, too. In a study of 87 older people who became depressed after a hospital stay, Duke University researchers found that those who scored high on a test of religious beliefs and experience bounced back more quickly than those with lower scores. Others suggest that religious people are less likely to become depressed in the first place.
Then, too, religious people may be healthier to start with, at least in certain ways. In another Duke study, this one of some 4,000 people over 65, people who attended services at least once a week – or frequently prayed or studied the Bible at least once a day – had slightly lower blood pressures than those who weren’t as religiously active. Those who did both were 40 percent less likely to have high diastolic blood pressure. Other studies have come up with similar blood pressure results.
There’s also some evidence that religious people may have stronger immune systems. In yet a third Duke study, people who attended religious services were about half as likely as non-attendees to have high levels of IL-6, an immune-system protein that can indicate the immune system isn’t functioning as well as it should.
• Healthier habits. One simple reason behind the health-faith link is "sin avoidance." Religious people often have relatively healthful lifestyles and thus are better protected against chronic disease. For instance, religious groups generally discourage excessive drinking, smoking, taking drugs, and engaging in risky sex practices. They also tend to encourage marriage, which in itself has been linked with longer life.
Treating their bodies as temples, so to speak, may also lead religious people to be more likely to follow their doctors’ advice. In the Duke blood pressure study, for instance, religiously active people who knew that their blood pressure was high were more likely to be taking medication for it. The authors suggest that religious beliefs may lead people to comply with treatments by fostering more cooperative attitudes or by "promoting respect and care for the body."
• Social bonds. Another important health aspect of organized religion is that it increases one’s social circle. Being part of a congregation can provide a person with emotional support, strong friendships, and a sense of purpose, say, through volunteering or helping others via church, temple, or mosque programs. And those emotional lifts, in turn, can buffer the harmful effects of stress, anxiety, and depression.
• Stress reduction. Religiously active people appear to reap particularly strong benefits from lower stress levels. For example, the Duke study authors theorize that religious activity helps to lower blood pressure by reducing stress and anxiety in people’s lives. High blood pressure has been linked not just with stress but also with anxiety and repressed hostility, they point out. Religious practices, on the other hand, go together with a greater sense of well-being, higher life satisfaction, lower anxiety, and better coping ability.
Prayer and religious reading in particular can have a calming effect that works to lower stress. For instance, during repetitive prayer, such as when Catholics pray the rosary, it has been noted that this "evokes physiological changes in the body, slowing or lowering metabolism, blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing," says Herbert A. Benson, MD, professor at Harvard Medical School and author of the popular book, The Relaxation Response (Harper Torch).
• Better coping with adverse events. Connection to a religious tradition can help people handle the unexpected upsets that life often brings. Religious beliefs "affect your whole world view, especially if you’re devoutly committed," says Harold G. Koenig, MD, director of Duke’s Center for the Study of Religion/Spirituality and Health. "They "help you understand and interpret negative life situations, like loss or illness. They help you to cope, to get on with life and grow from the experience."
Perhaps it’s because the devout have confidence in a loving God and, thus, a more positive outlook in life. In the Duke study on recovery from depression after a medical illness, religion appeared to have a particularly strong ability to lift the spirits of people whose health had worsened or failed to improve after their illness had run its course. "Religious faith may provide such persons with a series of hope that things will turn out all right regardless of their problems and, thus, foster greater motivation to achieve emotional recovery," they write.
Religion may also help because it promotes self-esteem of a kind that doesn’t depend on health or money. Depression, not surprisingly, often arises from difficulties adjusting to the discomfort, disability, and loss of control brought on by an illness. But Duke’s depression study authors point out that people whose religion drives their behavior and decisions may be more able to cope with illness (or financial hardship) "because their self-esteem and sense of well-being are not tied to their material circumstances."
Richard Sloan, PhD, director of the Behavioral Medicine Program, in New York’s Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, certainly thinks so. The doctor’s medical expertise gives them a strong influence over their patients, he argues, and he questions whether physicians should veer away from the medical realm into the religious arena. Religion, like marital or financial matters, is too private and personal to be the object of medical intervention, he says, and doctors who dwell on a religion-health link could do harm by implying that the less devout are shortchanging themselves health-wise.
The trend, however, is against such belief. More and more medical schools all over the world, especially the United States and Europe, are offering courses that explore the relationship between spirituality and health and teach students how to address religious issues in patient care.
Although researchers will continue to investigate the links between faith and health, people who already accept the fact that belief can console and heal don’t need scientific studies to convince them. They feel that those who are skeptical may find the results intriguing, but science may never be able to fully assuage their doubts.
The best part, I think, about medicine’s growing interest in faith is that some patients may finally get what they have been yearning for: Doctors who recognize the needs of the soul as well as those of the body.
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