Five Minutes Of In-Person Prayer Linked To Less Pain, Anxiety

Non-Religious Patients Got the Same Pain and Anxiety Relief From Prayer as Believers, Study Finds

Most people spend their time at a doctor’s office scrolling aimlessly on their phones or staring at the ceiling. But a new clinical trial published in the Annals of Family Medicine suggests that a few minutes of in-person prayer, offered by a trained volunteer after a routine appointment, was linked to meaningful reductions in both pain and anxiety in patients. For anxiety, those benefits lasted weeks.

To be clear, the study cannot show whether prayer itself caused the improvements. Patients who received prayer also received something the music control group did not, namely another person in the room making eye contact and offering a gentle laying of hands. That kind of human attention and touch, on its own, is known to reduce pain. The authors acknowledge this and call for future studies with a control group that includes interpersonal contact but no prayer.

Researchers recruited 180 patients from a family medicine clinic, all dealing with moderate-to-severe pain, anxiety, or both. After their appointments, half received five minutes of in-person Christian prayer from a trained volunteer. The other half listened to soft music. Patients who received prayer reported greater drops in both pain and anxiety, and for anxiety, those gains held up at two and six weeks.

Prayer is already the most commonly used form of complementary medicine in the United States, with 43% of Americans using it, according to figures cited in the study. Yet clinical research on prayer’s direct effects on physical symptoms has been limited and inconsistent. Most prior studies examined distant prayer, where one person prays for another remotely. Researchers argue that in-person prayer is far more common in real life and has been largely overlooked.

Study Drew Mostly Low-Income Black Women, a Group That Uses Prayer at Higher Rates

Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups after being recruited during routine clinic visits. Those with pain had to rate it at a four or higher on an eleven-point scale, while those with anxiety had to clear a threshold on a standard worry-and-restlessness screening test. Ninety received five minutes of Christian prayer with a gentle laying of hands. The other ninety listened to soft music. Surveys were completed right after the session, then again at two and six weeks.

Eighty-three percent of participants identified as Black, 78% were female, and the median annual household income fell between $20,000 and $39,999. About 69% identified as Christian. Researchers note that this profile closely matched the clinic’s overall patient population, a demographic group that faces well-documented gaps in pain treatment, is underrepresented in medical research, and reports higher rates of prayer use as a health practice, around 60%, compared to 43% of all Americans.

Prayer Linked to Short-Term Pain Relief, Longer-Lasting Anxiety Reduction

For pain, the prayer group reported one to two point larger reductions on the pain scale immediately after the session and again at two weeks. At six weeks, the difference between the two groups was no longer statistically meaningful.

For anxiety, results were more pronounced. Prayer recipients showed roughly two-point greater reductions compared to the music group, and those differences held at both the two-week and six-week marks.

Unexpectedly, these benefits appeared regardless of whether a participant was religious, expected prayer to work, or held strong beliefs about God’s role in healing. Christians and non-Christians alike responded similarly in most analyses. As the authors wrote, “our findings suggest that PIP may be effective for a wide range of patients, including non-Christians and those who do not expect the intervention to be effective.” PIP refers to proximal intercessory prayer, the clinical term for in-person prayer offered by one person for another.

Black participants reported larger reductions in both pain and anxiety following prayer, a finding researchers noted as relevant given that Black Americans are disproportionately affected by undertreated chronic pain and anxiety. No participants reported harmful effects, and 97% of all participants, including those in the music group, said they would want this kind of prayer available at future visits.

Even the Authors Admit They Can’t Rule Out the Placebo Effect

Researchers were unable to keep participants unaware of which group they were in, which opens the door to placebo-type effects. The authors do not dismiss this, writing that “lack of participant blinding leaves the possibility that placebo analgesia or other mind-body interactions… may account for some or all reported benefits.” Some participants also needed help filling out surveys, follow-up participation dropped off over time, and a data collection problem prevented analysis of pain medication changes at six weeks.

For clinics serving communities where chronic pain and anxiety are widespread and conventional treatment often falls short, a five-minute prayer session after an appointment may be worth a closer look. For the patients in this study, the data suggest it made a difference, though exactly why remains an open question.

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Disclaimer: This article is based on a single randomized controlled trial conducted at one clinic. Results are preliminary and should not be taken as medical advice. In-person prayer is not a substitute for professional medical treatment.

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