If you’re struggling with a chronic illness, have you made the connection between health, spirituality, and your doctor? According to recent research, most doctors are religious or spiritual…and prayer and faith changes how patients see disease.
“Spiritual energy brings compassion into the real world,” says Christina Baldwin, author and co-founder of PeerSpirit.com. “With compassion, we see benevolently our own human condition and the condition of our fellow beings. We drop prejudice. We withhold judgment.”
Spiritual energy (and prayer, and mediation) doesn’t just change how we see ourselves and others. Spiritual energy can change how we cope with chronic illness and disease – and coping with a chronic disease (such as ulcerative colitis, which I have) can increase our compassion for ourselves and others. Spirituality and health can be an upward spiral…or a downward dive. To learn more about how spirituality affects health, click Spirituality, Health, and Healing: An Integrative Approach. And, read on for info about doctors, religion, and prayer…
Doctors Praying For Patients Helps Fight Disease
“Increasingly, religion and spirituality are being recognized as important in the care of critically ill patients and we know that many patients draw on such resources to cope with their child’s illness,” says sociologist Wendy Cadge from Brandeis University. She and researchers from the University at Buffalo (SUNY) studied the effect of cancer diagnoses on children, families, and pediatric oncologists.
These researchers found that the majority of physicians surveyed reported that their spiritual or religious beliefs influenced their interactions with patients and families – whether the patients know it or not. So, doctors and patients don’t necessarily need to pray together…spiritual energy can affect chronic illness from a distance.
How Spirituality and Health are Connected
Though still controversial in the medical community, it’s becoming increasingly accepted that illness raises a patient’s spiritual awareness. The majority of doctors believe spirituality influences health very much – in a positive way – but only 6% believe religion actually changes medical outcomes. Researchers at the University of Chicago also found that most doctors believe spirituality helps people cope, gives patients a positive state of mind, and provides emotional and practical support through the religious community.
Dr Cadge says, “This study suggests that we should consider training to help physicians relate spiritually to families confronting life-threatening illnesses such as cancer.”
Relating spiritually to patients includes meditating or praying together, talking about God and the meaning of life, and perhaps even discussing Scripture. Doctors and patients can connect to produce positive energy, which can increase healing from disease.
Spirituality Training in Medical School?
Spirituality training in medical school may involve teaching doctors to pray with patients for healing from illness, and also include learning how to approach the “God topic” sensitively – because not all members of the same family hold the same spiritual beliefs.
Doctors Might Already Be Praying for Patients
Since 93% of physicians are raised in religious homes, it only stands to reason that many are open to connecting with families of very sick children through spirituality or religion. One thing doctors lack is the formal training to pray or meditate with families – but this could change!
If you have any questions or thoughts about health and spirituality – or praying for healing from a chronic illness – please comment below…
Source: JAMA and Archives Journals (2007, April 10). Most Physicians Believe That Religion Influences Patients’ Health.
