Academics: Religion ‘helps people cope’ with chronic pain

RELIGIOUS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – University academics said religion helps people suffering chronic pain cope with the pain.

Academics from universities in Leuven, Belgium, and Florida have published research suggesting that patients found that a central “religious meaning system” helped them adjust to and cope with the pain.

People who simply held religious beliefs, but where religion was not central to their lives, found that severe pain affected their satisfaction with life.

The research involved people from a Flemish patients’ association, who tested earlier research that prayer was the second most frequent response to pain and religiosity was associated with lower levels of pain and fatigue.