The March Research on Social Work Practice, one of the most prestigious journals in the field of social work, says “yes.”

David R. Hodge, an assistant professor of social work at Arizona State University, conducted a comprehenisve analysis on the effect of intercessory prayer — prayer offered for someone else — on people with psychological or medical problems. He conducted a meta-analysis — a rigorous examination of multiple studies on a subject — on 17 major studies that took the entire body of empirical research on the effect of intercessory prayer, and he found a positive effect.

That may be a mouthful, but in laymen’s terms, he kicked butt!

It’s not as if God wasn’t answering prayers before the scientific community “discovered” that he was, it’s just “official” now.

The article states:

Overall, the meta-analysis indicates that prayer is effective. Is it effective enough to meet the standards of the American Psychological Association’s Division 12 for empirically validated interventions? No. Thus, we should not be treating clients suffering with depression, for example, only with prayer. To treat depression, standard treatments, such as cognitive therapy, should be used as the primary method of treatment.

Right! The “scientific method” is so successful, it should be used, hands-down, over any other method.

Excuse me?

Has anyone ever heard of a blended methodology having a greater potential than a single modality? Arrogance has no place in treatment. Worse case scenario, praying will not harm; best case, on the outside possibility that this prayer stuff might just work [read heavy sarcasm], the patient will improve dramatically. Could it be that the truth might lay somewhere in between?

If it weren’t so sad, it would be funny.

Source:  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=65298&nfid=nl