RALEIGH, N.C. – A group of doctors at Duke University think belief plays an important role in patients’ recovery and overall health.

Discuss This Story

 

Dr. Harold Koenig has been interested in the link between spirituality, theology and health for decades.  He first learned about the possible relationship from hospital patients when he was working as a nurse back in the 1980s.

 

 “I would go in the morning and I would ask them, 'How do you cope? How are you getting by with this hip fracture, of this stroke or this heart attack?' and they would say, 'Well, you know, I pray, I read the Bible, I talk to God,'” he said.

 

Koenig comes across more and more people everyday who turn to their faith. Kings Park International Church Children’s Pastor Eric Syfrett found out he had Hodgkins Lymphoma in May of 2000.

 

“I think He enabled me to walk through that process. He gave me the strength. He gave me the peace. He gave me the confidence and comfort to know that everything would be effective and that it would work on the other side.”

 

But the question is would talking to God help him heal? That issue has gotten increasing attention over the last decade, including a recent article in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

 

To find answers, Koenig teamed up with Dr. Keith Meador in January of 2007 to form the Duke Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health.

 

Dr. Meador says it’s important to understand the role beliefs play in patients’ lives, and to take that role into account during treatment.

 

 “The degree to which I understand where they’re coming from in their own spiritual context and the degree to which they understand I’m honoring that, it may make a profound difference,” he said.

 

For Eric Syfrett, it made all the difference in the world. Shortly after the cancer went into remission, he had a relapse. But Syfrett's faith helped him turn his second round of chemo into a positive experience.

 

“God has done so much in my life through the cancer, through the treatment, through the people that I’ve met, that I just think it’s really miraculous that God can work through that in spite of that,” he said.

 

For the people like Syfrett, who have or are currently struggling through an injury or illness, Meador says faith keeps them going.

 

“Hope has a lot to do with outcomes,” he said.

 

Looking back, Syfrett says his outcome is a gift from God.

 

“I just believe that my faith, my relationship with God has a lot to do with my well-being, and in making me well,” he said.