Posted by Helen on: 02.24.2009 /
Last week’s Time featured an article on The Biology of Belief. One of the points made in it was that faith can heal:
The Biology of Belief
[...] a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that faith may indeed bring us health. People who attend religious services do have a lower risk of dying in any one year than people who don’t attend. People who believe in a loving God fare better after a diagnosis of illness than people who believe in a punitive God. No less a killer than AIDS will back off at least a bit when it’s hit with a double-barreled blast of belief. “Even accounting for medications,” says Dr. Gail Ironson, a professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Miami who studies HIV and religious belief, “spirituality predicts for better disease control.”
Comment by: Benjamin Ady
1This is clearly written by someone whose experiences have been somewhat different that mine =)
It looks like from some of the research cited in the article that I’m in a minority. But we are out here–a bunch of us–who have found that our involvement with religion has in many instances been more toxic than health-advancing. Of course there are extreme examples of this like David Koresh. But there is an entire subculture of people who are involved with religion that isn’t anything like as extreme as that example and yet who experience toxic rather than healthful effects from that involvement.
All of which to say I thought the article was entirely too upbeat and positive =)
Comment by: Anisha
2I didn’t think the tone was too positive, mostly because I think it is incredibly important to discern the difference between religion and faith. Religious practice doesn’t necessarily make one a spiritual person, and being a spiritual person doesn’t necessarily make someone go to church. Having a solid sense of the questions that are asked by the major world religions would definitely be important for a patient with terminal disease. I’m going to medical school next year and I would love to know what Sloan’s “script” for opening the dialogue is, because I would certainly feel awkward asking patients about their faith otherwise.
Another study of relying on the church as a social system made the point that those who gave help reaped the benefits more than those who received – and that definitely is a pillar of religion. It’s all about otherlyness, right Jim? :)
Comment by: Doreen
3I’m glad the article mentioned the placebo effect. I’m a big fan of the placido effect – placido domingo. Listening to him always makes my aches and pains feel better.