Prayer May Heal Depression

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Prayer May Heal Depression

2 hours, 41 minutes ago

FRIDAY, Nov. 1 (HealthScoutNews) -- It seems prayer really may have the

power to heal.

Moderate levels of prayer and other types of religious coping may help

combat depression among spouses of people with lung cancer, says a study in

the November-December issue of Psychosomatics.

The study included 156 spouses of people with various stages of lung cancer.

The spouses were 26 to 85 years old (mean age 63.9 years), and 78 percent of

them were women. Researchers assessed the spouses' levels of religious

coping and depression, along with their sense of control over events and

level of social support.

The researchers define religious coping as a person's use of religious

beliefs or practices to manage stressful life events. Religious coping

includes prayer, drawing comfort from faith, and having support from church

members.

The study found that spouses who used moderate levels of religious coping

were less depressed than spouses who used lower or higher levels of

religious coping.

The connection between depression and high levels of religious coping may

reflect an over-reliance on less adaptive religious coping strategies and

neglect of other important coping strategies, the researchers say. They also

say that spouses who feel the most desperate may be more likely to turn to

religion for comfort. That means those people may already be depressed

before they begin using religious coping.

More information

Learn more about coping with cancer at the National Cancer Institute.