But after attending a weekend seminar on holistic approaches to treatment, the oncology surgeon changed his mind. Now, some of his cancer patients come to his office not to learn merely about their medical options, but to share a moment of meditation. Dr. Cowgill helps me with this. This is his gift to me. Cowgill, however, may be the exception to the rule.
Many doctors regard the mixture of church and science as taboo as integrating church and state.
Yet almost 65 percent of people believe doctors should join them in prayer if requested, according to the survey. And a growing body of research has suggested that prayer, meditation and other mind-body approaches appear to be beneficial in the healing process, although scientists are still baffled on why. Some research, including a controversial study recently in the Archives of Internal Medicine, has suggested that even patients who are prayed for by a third party tend to fare better than those who aren't the subject of prayer. Others indicate that the faithful recover better from such procedures as open heart surgery and that, among the elderly, blood pressure rates are lower. And yet, there's definitely a need to address more fully the other aspects of being human and being healthy.