Five Minutes of Prayer Eases Pain and Anxiety in Primary Care Trial

Key Takeaways

• Pain differences favoring prayer were reported right away and through two weeks, while anxiety differences were reported through six weeks.
• No adverse events were reported, and prayer recipients were generally neutral to favorable about having the prayer option available at future visits.
• The sample was predominantly Black, female, and low-income, and neither participants nor prayer practitioners could be blinded.

In a 180-patient randomized trial described in a University of Maryland School of Medicine news report, five minutes of proximal intercessory prayer after primary care visits was associated with lower patient-reported pain and anxiety than five minutes of soft music. The comparison centered on a brief session delivered after medical appointments, not a change in the visit itself. Investigators evaluated the post-visit adjunct in a university family medicine practice.

Eligible patients had clinically significant pain or anxiety and were randomized after their medical appointments in a university family medicine practice. Clinically significant pain was defined as a score of 4 or higher on a 0 to 10 scale. The intervention was five-minute proximal Christian intercessory prayer from a trained volunteer, with laying-on-of-hands, and the comparator was five minutes of soft music. Follow-up occurred at two and six weeks, and the trial was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov and approved by the University of Maryland Baltimore IRB. The trial was conducted in an immediate post-visit primary care setting.

Patients in the prayer group reported significantly greater pain reductions than the music group immediately after the session and again at two weeks. By six weeks, the between-group pain difference was not statistically significant. Anxiety scores also showed significantly greater reductions in the prayer group than in the music group immediately and at both the two-week and six-week assessments. The pattern was a pain difference that was present immediately and at two weeks but not at six weeks, while anxiety differences were reported through six weeks.

No adverse events were reported during the study. Among prayer recipients, 97% were neutral, agreeable, or strongly agreeable to having proximal intercessory prayer available in future visits. The authors also described the intervention as a low-cost, non-pharmacologic complement to standard treatment and said the association appeared regardless of a patient's faith or no faith. In this sample, it was well tolerated and broadly acceptable.

The sample was predominantly Black, female, and low-income, which limits broader generalizability beyond this single-site population. Researchers also noted that blinding participants or prayer practitioners was not possible, and non-specific factors such as human presence and touch could not be fully ruled out.

The authors said the findings may have particular relevance for underserved populations, and they separately noted that Black participants reported larger reductions in pain and anxiety following prayer. The authors also said future studies should include a control involving interpersonal contact and touch without prayer.