The Biology of Prayer and Healing
“When we set ourselves to the work of collecting or re-collecting
the scattered pieces of ourselves, we begin a task which,
if carried to its natural conclusions,
ultimately becomes prayer.”
Skepticism
Science and Faith: Freud, one of the most well respected researchers of the human experience, claims that religion is a “universal neurosis that civilization substitutes for a more authentic personal reality based on scientific knowledge” (Jones and Butman, 1991, 77). Thus, to presume that illness and healing have anything to do with spirituality is absurd.
Testability: Prayer and faith have no universal method of testing. Nor can it be proven that prayer is effective, for who can determine what is efficacious if one is dealing with a divine being? “If people do not receive what is construed to be an immediate positive response to a petition, should they immediately deduce that prayer was ineffective or unanswered? . . . Can the intricacies and complexities of God’s response to prayer be adequately and accurately observed and measured?” (Chamberlin, 2000, 31)
Operational Definitions
Even though religious practices and experiences seem too subjective to quantify and describe, if they are to be used as test material, scientific research demands salient classifications for the factors it seeks to study.
Religion: the “service of progress using cumulative traditions of past and depending on reenactment of belief as true” (Chamberlin, 2000, 10)
Faith: the trust in a human quest for relation to transcendence (Fowler, 1991).
Faith Development: the process of “finding and making meaning as a human activity” and the subsequent growth in self and other awareness one experie...
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...f medical science’s best-kept secrets. Saturday
Evening Post, 269(6), 52-56.
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Sicher, F., Targ, E., Moor, D. II, Smith, H. S. (1998). A randomized double- blind study of the effect of distant healing in a population with advanced AIDS: Report of a small scale study. West J Med, 169, 356- 363.
In Paul Tillich’s 1957 work Dynamics of Faith, he mentions that there are six major components of faith. These six components of faith describe the Franciscan perspective of “faith”. According to Tillich, the first component of faith is “the state of being ultimately concerned”. The second component of faith is that it is supposed to be at the center of all of our personal lives and everything that we do throughout our own individual lives. The third component of faith is that we should have an awareness for “infinite” things such as God himself. The fourth component of faith is that we need to understand that faith can act as fear, fascination, or both of these qualities at the same time. The fifth component of faith is that doubt is a major product that will always exist with faith. The last component of faith is that we need a community in order to have a “language of faith”.
Another reason a patient may opt to euthanasia is to die with dignity. The patient, fully aware of the state he or she is in, should be able choose to die in all their senses as opposed to through natural course. A patient with an enlarged brain tumor can choose to die respectively, instead of attempting a risky surgery that could leave the patient in a worse condition then before the operation, possibly brain-dead. Or a patient with early signs of Dementia or Alzheimer’s disease may wish to be granted euthanization before their disease progresses and causes detrimental loss of sentimental memories. Ultimately it should be the patient’s choice to undergo a risky surgery or bite the bullet, and laws prohibiting euthanasia should not limit the patient’s options.
Euthanasia is a difficult ideal to understand, to lack the ability to place a value on someone’s life and to understand someone’s suffering at the sometime. Being pulled by both your heart and your soul at the same time.
Suffering in pain and knowing that there is no hope is a horrible thing to experience as we live. Lying on a hospital bed in misery and grief because of a condition or illness that is hopeless is completely depressing to anyone. Euthanasia is one of the most controversial issues in society due to the difference in people’s point of views about dying. Although the lives of many patients can be saved with the latest breakthroughs in treatments and technology, we are still unable to find treatment for all diseases, and these patients have to go through painful or treatments that have greater risk than benefits only to prolong their life with little or no chance of full recovery. These patients struggle with physical and emotional pain for the reason that they feel like they are worthless because they can’t move or decide rationally. Euthanasia should be an option to certain terminal ill people because it allows them to choose whether they want to die or live a painful life.
Euthanasia gives people a choice, rather than facing the degenerative effects of disease or old age. Euthanasia is life or death. The fear of the unknown or what happens afterwards is replaced by the agony of living. If life is too painful and the quality of life is extremely low, humans are left with no choice but to make a choice.
Panic disorder is an anxiety-repeated disorder that affects approximately five percent of the population (Roy-Byrne, Craske, & Stein, 2006). A diagnosis of panic disorder requires that the individual experiences recurrent panic attacks with any of the following: worry about the possibility of future attacks, avoiding places or situations in which the individual fears a panic attack may occur, fear of being unable to escape or obtain help, or any other change in behavior due to the attacks (Roy-Byrne, Craske, & Stein, 2006). Panic attacks are often sudden and the sufferer usually experience physical symptoms such as autonomie, otoneurological, gastrointestinal,or cardiorespiratory distress (Roy-Byrne, Craske, & Stein, 2006). Individuals who suffer from panic disorder typically utilize medical services at a higher rate than those who do not have panic disorder, an impaired social life, and a reduced quality of life (Taylor, 2006). Often times those who suffer from panic disorder may also suffer from depression and general anxiety (Taylor, 2006). According to the Stanford University School of medicine, approximately 50 percent of patients diagnosed with panic disorder will develop depression and approximately 50 percent of depressed patients will develop panic disorder (Taylor, 2006). In addition those who suffer from panic disorder have a higher incidence of suicide, especially those with comorbid depression (Taylor, 2006). Not everyone who experiences a panic attack suffers from panic disorder (Roy-Byrne, Craske, & Stein, 2006). The same physical symptoms of panic disorder may occur when an individual is faced with specific fears and potentially dangerous situations (Roy-Byrne, Craske, & Stein, 2006). The difference b...
One of the main reasons people want to legalize euthanasia is to free the patient from pain. They want the patient to have a dignified death and choose how they want their life to end. A person could go into a vegetative state where they cannot think for themselves or live the life they used to live. They are now trapped in a body without being able to do anything. Being in a
Euthanasia, as defined by the Encarta Encyclopedia, is the “practice of mercifully ending a person’s life in order to release the person from incurable disease, intolerable suffering, or undignified death” (Encarta, 2004). Euthanasia is a Greek word, which means “good death.” As humans, we understand death is something we cannot avoid but having some control over death is empowering and reassuring to us. If someone is suffering from a terminal illness, intolerable pain, or in a long-term coma, euthanasia is an acceptable option for someone to end his or her life. With the consent of their doctor(s) these people should be able to have the law on their side supporting their decisions.
There are many common arguments people have against voluntary euthanasia. One argument against voluntary euthanasia is that “the old, disabled and incurably ill would feel they should choose voluntary euthanasia so that they were not a burden on others….” (Anonymous Common 1). However there is no real evidence to show that this problem will arise if voluntary euthanasia is legalized. Another argument is “there is always a possibility of an incorrect diagnosis or the discovery of a treatment that will permit either survival or recovery” (Anonymous Objections 1). This is so...
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Throughout history, explanations for mental illness have been described as supernatural, psychological, and biological. Prior to the early Greek physicians, the supernatural model of mental illness prevailed. Early humans did not have science to explain natural events so magic, mysticism, and superstition were used as a substitution. They believed in animism, the idea that all of nature is alive, and anthropomorphism, the tendency to project human features onto nature. Reification was also a popular belief that assumed if you can think of something, it exists. Sympathetic magic was the idea that one can heal and individual by influencing an object that is similar or closely associated to them (Frazer, 1890/1963). Primitive healers would often imitate the patient's ailments and then model the recovery. Reification also lead to the bel...
“The Open Fuel Standard Act of 2013 is a Fiscal Policy that if passed would require each fleet of a manufacturer of passenger automobiles (including light-duty motor vehicles) to comprise at least: (1) 30% qualified vehicles in model year 2016, and (2) 50% qualified vehicles in model year 2017 and each subsequent year.” (https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr2493#summary) A qualified vehicle would be one that operates on natural gas, hydrogen, biofuels, E85, M85 or electric drive vehicles. This would be a giant step in the right direction if this were to be passed into law and it would have a huge impact on all automakers, especially the truck market.
Barbour, Ian G. Religion in an Age of Science. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1990. Print. (BL 240.2 .B368 1990)
We live an ever-changing society that should not view Euthanasia as an unethical action, but as a way of help for suffering patients. Everyday their are thousands of hard working individuals that are diagnosed with a terminal illness and are now faced with decisions that must both be in the best interest for them and their families. This is neither an easy choice nor one that should be made without serious thought, but it should not be denied or penalized by society or government. It is a choice that must be made only by the patient in question with the input and understanding of their families. Many members of our society have worked very hard throughout their lives and if it is their desire to elect Euthanasia to spare them of the pain and the financial burden that a fatal illness would leave behind, then so be it.