Faith is Powerful Medicine

By Rev. Dr. Paul E. Beavers,
Director of Pastoral Care, Danbury Hospital

"Faith is Powerful Medicine: Scientific research supports what people have believed for centuries" reads the title of an article in the October, 1999 Reader's Digest.

The Bible spends much time with the problem of suffering and although it posits a variety of possibilities as to the causes, the Bible's primary value is in helping those who suffer to transcend their suffering so as not to be emotionally or spiritually immobilized.

In the New Testament, there is no suggestion that the removal of suffering was the primary mission of Jesus. Nor is there any hint that the banishment of suffering should be an expectation of his followers. In his personal sufferings, he endured it, submitted, yet transcended it. Through it all, he made it abundantly clear that suffering was inevitable.

The early hospices and hospitals, most of which were founded by the newly developed Christian church, offered more spiritual comfort than they did physical relief. That was the best they could do.

Modern medicine, understandably, saw suffering as an enemy to be conquered not endured. The medical arsenal appropriately grew in numbers and power: powerful drugs, antibiotics, chemotherapy, nuclear medicine, CAT scans, MRIs, monitoring, equipment, etc. The aggressiveness has and continues to pay off. Victories were won and the tide continues to turn with major conquests on the horizon but not without disappointments and set-backs.

One of the unfortunate by-products of the successful war on disease was that there was far more focus on the causes of suffering than upon the sufferer. Human beings were being compartmentalized, as were those who treated them. Health came to be known in purely functional terms as "the absence of illness".

The medical world, however, is beginning to rethink its concepts of health and illness. Medical schools, health professionals and hospitals have begun to approach treatment more holistically.

Danbury Hospital has recently begun implementing the Planetree Model, which focuses on improving patient oriented treatment which includes body, mind and spirit and places great value on the input, concerns and issues of the patient as an active participant in the treatment process. Medicine, with all of its advances, is recognizing the importance of the patient with their faith resources as a significant component in the healing process.