BACKGROUND Data from a pilot study suggested that noetic therapies-healing practices that are not mediated by tangible elements-can reduce preprocedural distress and might affect outcomes in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. We undertook a multicentre, prospective trial of two such practices: intercessory prayer and music, imagery, and touch (MIT) therapy. METHODS 748 pa...

The following text discusses the Department's proposed rollback methodology, as amended in its Preliminary Prayer (the Department's Prayer), and outlines the ways in which it is seriously flawed.

OBJECTIVE There is little information regarding the isolation of antimicrobial-resistant potentially pathogenic bacteria from water and carpets of mosques worldwide. The objective of the present investigation is to determine the bacteriological quality of water and carpets of mosques in Elkhomes city in Libya. METHODS Potentially pathogenic bacteria were isolated from water samples (n=44) and...

The objective of these studies was to determine the strength and direction of the relationship between prayer and gratitude. In Study 1 (n 674), the authors replicated the cross-sectional association between prayer frequency and gratitude that has been demonstrated in previous research. In Study 2 (n 780), prayer frequency predicted gratitude 6 weeks later even when controlling for initial grat...

Psychiatric patients (age 59+) were assessed before study treatment for major depressive disorder, and again after 3 months. Measures taken before study treatment included facets of religiousness (subjective religiosity, private prayer, worship attendance, and religious media use), social support, and perceived stress. Clinician-rated depression severity was assessed both before and after treat...

Religious symptoms have been recognized as a presentation of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) for centuries. The two main treatment strategies for OCD, cognitive behavior therapy (exposure and response prevention [ERP]), and SSRIs have been shown to be effective in religious OCD. The presentation of religious OCD within formal prayer, reported in Judaism and Islam, poses special challenges o...

Previous research has indicated that the physical actions of prayer are especially salient for preschool-aged children, and children in this age range tend to associate prayer with communicating with God. As the context in which children learn about new concepts impacts on how children come to understand those concepts, and children are often introduced to the concept of God through prayer, the...

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of intercessory prayer, a widely practiced complementary therapy, on cardiovascular disease progression after hospital discharge. PATIENTS AND METHODS In this randomized controlled trial conducted between 1997 and 1999, a total of 799 coronary care unit patients were randomized at hospital discharge to the intercessory prayer group or to the control group. In...

¶1 On Sunday morning, Ms. B. dials into Prodigy, then logs on to the Prayer Line, a bulletin board storing messages from around the world. She scans a list of the most recent entries: Learning how to lean; Let me pray for you; My father; My mother’s stroke; National day of prayer; Please pray; Prayer for health; Ralph needs prayer; The father’s heart.1 These are the supplications of a group tha...