items of interest

with contributions from Jude P. Dougherty, Anne Fowler, Nicki Nichols Gamble, Frances X. Hogan, Melissa Kogut, Madeline McComish, Barbara Thorp, John H. Timmerman

"Religion and medicine are inextricably related, and we're seeing it time and time again," says medical student Reghan Foley. "Everyone has spirituality. It's basically what gives your life meaning."

Foley was one of the people interviewed by Lydia Strohl for an article on faith and medicine. Strohl also talked to Dr. David Larson, president of the National Institute for Healthcare Research, a leading advocate for spirituality in medicine. Through studies by Larson and others, a body of evidence has been amassed that argues strongly that prayer and spiritual activity have a positive effect on individual health.

Larson says, "The findings are so substantial that it would take several hundred studies saying there was no effect to reverse our opinion of how beneficial religion is."

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Behind the walls of respectability