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CNN Sunday Morning
The Healing Powers of Faith
Aired May 20, 2001 - 09:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Beating a sickness or a disease can be a personal struggle or a personal journey it all depends on how you look at it. Whether it's cancer or Alzheimer's disease, finding a medical cure can be a real struggle. So at this point in your life, where is your faith? Do you pray? Do you even believe in a higher power? Close to 80 out of 125 medical schools in the U.S. either require and offer courses in religion and health.
Dr. Harold Koenig of Duke University studies the reasons why. "The Healing Power of Faith" is his new book and he joins us this morning from Raleigh, North Carolina. Dr. Koenig, good to see you.
DR. HAROLD KOENIG, AUTHOR, "THE HEALING POWER OF FAITH" Thank you, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Why don't we talked about what triggered your interested even in this, the fact that belief and prayer can make an impact on living longer or beating a disease.
KOENIG: Well, my interest began as a family physician, taking care of patients who were struggling with these various kinds of health conditions -- stroke, heart disease -- these kinds of very difficult health conditions that people have trouble adapting to. And I was interested in how they coped with that stress. And so I would ask them -- what did they do to help them to cope with their illness. And so many people would tell me about their faith, about prayer, about turning it over to God.
PHILLIPS: How can stress and worrying be so detrimental to your health? What is it about that feeling?
KOENIG: Well, you know, when we begin to worry about things, when we become hopeless or lose meaning or start to feel stressed out, our bodies start to react to those thoughts and feelings. Our entire physiology changes, our immune systems begin to weaken in some respects as we encounter stresses -- our cardiovascular system begins to become hyper-reactive. So there are direct physiological changes that occur when we become stressed out.
PHILLIPS: So while doing your studies, Dr. Koenig, can you give me an example of somebody with whom you met and how faithful they were and also back it up with the scientific evidence?
KOENIG: Well, there was a patient that I had that at the age of four years old, actually, she developed an aplastic anemia and for the next 20 years she struggled with that illness. Now this is a condition that has a prognosis of about two or three years on the average and yet this woman was able to cope with that disease up until -- she's now about 22 years old. She completed Duke University and now is in Duke Divinity School.
And this person has had to go into the doctor's office on a weekly basis, getting blood transfusions and just going through a lot of problems with her physical health. And her faith was so strong that she would pray and she would absolutely believe that God would heal her some day and still believes this. And you could see it in the fact that she kept going and that she could cope with that -- those devastating health problems on a day to day basis.
PHILLIPS: So what's the difference between what you've found in your studies an, say, the faith healers that we see on television -- the TV evangelists that hit you on the forehead and all of a sudden these people say they're healed.
KOENIG: Yes. We're very different in what we're studying although in some other respects it's not that different. We are looking at what effects does a person's religious beliefs and practices -- what effect does that have on their mental and physical health and ability to cope with illness. Now, when people are healed at a Benny Henn crusade, I think a lot of times that's taking advantage of the power of belief that if a person has a very strong faith and belief in something, it's amazing what physiological changes can be ignited in the body through the mind-body effects that are kind of wired into our bodies.
PHILLIPS: Dr. Harold Koenig -- one again, the book is "The Healing Power of Faith". Very inspiring words this morning. Thank you, sir, for being with us.
KOENIG: Thank you, Kyra.
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