Doctors and faith
U. OF C. HEALTH STUDY | Physicians believe God can help patients get healthy

April 10, 2007
BY JIM RITTER Health Reporter jritter@suntimes.com

A majority of American doctors believe God or another supernatural being intervenes in patients' health, a study has found.

And nearly two in five doctors believe religion and spirituality can help prevent bad outcomes such as heart attacks, infections and even death, according to the University of Chicago nationwide survey of 2,000 physicians.

"Most physicians apply medical science while maintaining a belief that God intervenes in patients' health," Dr. Farr Curlin and colleagues wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Cures 'that don't make sense'

Religious doctors were more likely than nonreligious doctors to believe this -- and to report that patients bring up religious issues........

Study numbers

54% of doctors surveyed believe God or another supernatural being intervenes in patients' health.

76% of doctors surveyed believe God or another supernatural being helps patients cope with and endure illness and suffering.

74% of doctors surveyed believe God or another supernatural being gives patients a hopeful state of mind.

*For further reading and information, see Source*

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The source is quite a fair bit longer than these few paragraphs, so feel free to hop over and read the rest of the article. Note that this does not necessarily mean all doctors believe in the Christian God, but I still found it of interest that such an intelligent bunch of folks as doctors can still believe in god constructs. Does God help patients?

If God helped patients there would be no need for doctors.


I believe it has to do with will-power and/or confidence. As the saying goes...if you believe in something hard enough it'll happen.

As long as they believe in something it will 'help' them.

A deity didn't help them, they helped themselves without knowing it. If a deity really did help them then we would notice that only the patients that prayed to the real deity got the 'help'...but there are patients who worship multiple gods from multiple religions and still get the same effect.

If you get a Christian, a Jedi, a Buddhist, and a Pagan patient together and they all believer that their religion will help them and they do get that extra 'help' it can't be from the religion...because all those religions can't all exist together.

Believing that you will 'help' yourself will give the similar effect.

Mother mother tell your children
That their time has just begun
I have suffered for my anger
There are wars that can't be won

Father father please believe me
I am laying down my guns
I am broken like an arrow
Forgive me
Forgive your wayward son

Everybody needs somebody to love
(mother, mother)
Everybody needs somebody to hate
(please believe me)
Everybody's b****ing
'cause they can't get enough
And it's hard to hold on
When there's no one to lean on

Faith: you know you're gonna live thru the rain
DOCTOR you got to keep the faith
Faith: don't let your love turn to hate
Right now we got to
Keep the faith
Keep the faith
Keep the faith
DOCTOR we got to keep the faith

Tell me baby when I hurt you
Do you keep it all inside
Do you tell me al's forgiven
And just hide behind your pride

Everybody needs somebody to love
(mother, father)
Everybody needs somebody to hate
(please don't leave me)
Everybody's bleeding
'cause the times are tough
Well it's hard to be strong
When there's no one to dream on

Faith: you know you're gonna live thru the rain
DOCTOR you got to keep the faith
Now you know is not too late
Oh you got to keep the faith
Faith: don't let your love turn to hate
Right now we got to
Keep the faith
Keep the faith
Keep the faith
DOCTOR we got to keep the faith

Walking in the footsteps
Of society's lies
I don't like what I see no more
Sometimes I wish that I was blind
Sometimes I wait forever

To stand out in the rain
So no one sees me cryin'
Trying to wash away the pain
Mother father

There's things I've done I can't erase
Every night we fall from grace

It's hard with the world in yours face
Trying to hold on, trying to hold on

Faith: you know you're gonna live thru the rain
DOCTOR you got to keep the faith
Faith: don't let your love turn to hate
Right now we got to keep the faith
Faith: now it's not too late
Try to hold on, trying to hold on
Keep the faith

Ah, but perhaps it IS a sign that all those religions CAN exist together... they're all the same spirit or God with differing interpretations of "God". I think, within the constructs of my own faith, this includes Atheists and their belief in themselves. Why? Because in my belief, God is within everyone... therefore if you believe that you'll be helped, you might be. Even if that means you'll be given aid and comfort when you're dying.

And if I wasn't so darn sleepy right now, I'd be able to explain this a little better.

DOCTOR we got to keep the faith!@!@!

Yeah man are diggen this s*&^? I am. Yeah just chillin with my mates and keepin it real. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA

Like it is unintelligent to believe in God?

I think faith can help patients... faith in whatever it is they believe exists. I don't believe that God is doing the work.

Over 2 years ago I gave my brother-in-law the book "Healing Words". The book describes how to use visualizations with medical treatments for such things as cancer. He has been in total remission for about two years. I think the energy of confidence will assist any doctor's treatment process. The body can use this energy to assist in the healing process. I think the source of this confidence can be different for each of us.

John

I believe that alot of situations are result of psychosomatic illnesses. Now I cant attribute them all to that but in alot of cases that seems to be the issue. Now seeing medical documents from a medical journal on prayer concerning the healing of cancer in a patient is another story

Edit: And this was a complete healing in a matter of days, not a healing over time

in 94 i developed a lump in my lower abdomen. i had a lot of surgeries so i knew something was wrong. i went to the surgeon and he felt the lump and told me i had a hernia and it would have to be removed. he then ask me to take off my clothes from the waist up because he wanted to check my breasts. i almost freaked. i had known him for a while and this was really weird but i did it. he said he didnt find anything but to be safe he sent me for a mommogram. that was on a wed. thurs. i had the mammo. they called the dr. on fri. they found a lump. i went into the hospital on mon. they fixed the hernia and while they waited for the biopsy. it was cancer. a really bad one. they did a masectomy and put me on meds. no chemo. caught it in time. if i had not got the hernia that sent me to the dr., who in turn sent me for a mammo i WOULD NOT BE HERE. this all happened in 1 week. when i went back to see him i asked why he checked me for anything other then the hernia. all he did was point up and smile. i will keep on believing in a god who helps.

God gave everyone the ability to do what they do, including doctors...some doctors understand this and use what the Lord gave them...God is our healer, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

randomhit10

Was not Luke, one of the apostles who was a physician?

yes he was....cool thought...thanks.

randomhit10

Of course not. Mind over matter. The mind is a curious and wonderful thing. Though yes the state of mind does work both ways as it can also make you ill. Curious how making yourself ill by thinking/believing it, isn't claimed by religious folk?

Also there's the fact that this is pretty much cut and sliced for God. Any postive thinking of any nature is healthy for the said person. No matter if you want to fight for your life on for a terrorist belief system or for your dog.

How true.

the only problem with that belief that if you believe in something strongly... it will happen... is that...

no matter how strongly you believe in some things... they will NEVER happen...

but what's interesting is that these doctors don't attribute the recovery to their own knowledge or the medicine...
it's almost like a car sales man saying that he's not sure that the car he sold you is going to work after you drive it off the lot...

very good post PA

The Australian aborigines believed in magic
Because Aboriginal society was very spiritual (in the sense that spirits were thought to have made the land and were responsible for birth and sometimes death),it is not surprising that Aboriginal people 'believed' in magic.

It was practiced in a number of ways. For example through the pointing of the bone (sometimes called singing someone) which was believed to cause death. People who had been 'pointed' often died, not as a result of the magic itself, but because of their belief that they would die ie., death through superstition or imagination. In the same way, people were 'cured' of sickness / illness through the use of magic stones and crystals.

I agree, I think in any situation, if you keep high hopes or Faith in anything, (It doesn't have to be God) that you sort of trick yourself into a positive outcome.

Looks good PA..

Does God HELP patients??

Well IMO YES.......................from how I look at it....the key word being HELP.........it doesnt mean God totally cures the patient...just HELPS them

And to get the HELP, you must fully commit yourself to God and believe in your prayers