Placebos, Prayer, and Pain Relief

By Diana Hartman

The belief that a divine being could be called upon to assist with one's health needs is not new. Also aged is the assertion of relieving symptoms with the idea of treatment rather than actual treatment. Scientists have been diligently researching both ideas with the help of positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and electroencephalograph (EEG) tests. The conclusions spell promise for placebos, but doom for deities.

Placebos have been found to have more than just a relieving effect. Some chronic pain patients can be trained to provide their own viable, lasting treatment. Too, how well a patient does with placebos, thought by the patient to be anti-depressants, might be a marker for how well they would do with the real deal.

While the existence of a higher power is in the heart of the believer, scientists have concluded there is no region of the brain specifically designed for heavenly communication. Researchers scanned the brains of 15 cloistered Carmelite nuns who were asked to recall their most heightened divine connection. The researchers observed as over a dozen areas of the nuns' brains were activated all at once — most notably, the caudate nucleus, the part of the brain associated with joy and love. The nuns did not submit to scans while in the process of achieving spiritual oneness, saying, "God cannot be summoned at will."

A devout agnostic, I met these results with a kind of "told you" attitude. I've many times witnessed the power of mind over matter when administering dummy pills to my mother and my children whenever the medicinal well ran dry in destitute times. Despite my mother's fervent skyward pleas, thy kingdom come never came to my house, leaving me with nothing more than a cup of sugar and an idea. We are not hard-wired to a celestial throne and the research proves it.

We are, however, wholly capable of something right nice — an ability almost lost in a cloud of spiritual vs. medical debate and a dispute over terms. The means by which a patient can learn to harness their own brainpower to relieve their suffering is scientifically proven. Does it really matter, then, what the individual sufferer calls this process or to whom they attribute the power? The parts of the brain activating those regions responsible for relieving pain and creating a sense of serenity are, in fact, activated by the person hosting said brain. Scientists rightly attribute the ability to the person and reasonably expect the person to take credit for what they've accomplished.

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