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If religious faith can help the body fight
off disease, as some believe, can loss of that faith leave
one vulnerable to illness? Yes, according to researchers who
found that sick patients who became pessimistic about their
religious faith were associated with having a
higher risk of mortality.
The investigators at Duke University found
that people who held these negative views on religion had
an increased risk of mortality. Feelings of doubt and anger
towards one's faith are natural and normal when dealing with
serious illness. But when people get stuck there it creates
stress that interferes with
body's ability to recover.
The investigators questioned 596
patients over the age 55 who had been hospitalized
for various illnesses at Duke Hospital. The vast majority
of the patients were of Christian faith.
The researchers questioned the patients
about how they were using religion to cope with the stress
of a medical illness. Negative religious feelings included
feeling "abandoned or punished by God" or "questioning
God's love." The patients were followed for up to 2 years.
The results indicate that religious struggle
was associated with an increased risk of mortality. Specifically,
patients who said they felt "unloved by God" and
"attributed their illness to the devil" were found
to have a 19% to 28% increase
in the risk of dying within 2 years.
The investigators controlled for other
factors that could have influenced these results, such as
depression, severity of illness, gender, age and quality of
life. However, the findings could be explained by other factors,
such as feelings of alienation arising from religious struggle,
the researchers acknowledge.
The research indicates the importance
that medical professionals
assess patients' religious feelings as part of
providing thorough medical care.
Sick people need to have their spiritual
issues assessed and addressed, otherwise it will have a negative
effect.
Annals
of Internal Medicine August 13/27 2001;161:1881-1885
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