Prayer Is Good Medicine: How to Reap the Healing Benefits of Prayer (Paperback)

by Larry Dossey (Author) "What if your physician told you the next time you're sick, "Take a handful of drugs..." (more)
Key Phrases: distant prayer, prayer experiments, ordering force, Good Medicine, Deborah Rose, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Since Larry Dossey wrote his first book, Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine, he has toured the world meeting with audiences as diverse as Pentagon employees, church groups, and the British parliament. Regardless of the audience, Dossey noticed that most everyone seems interested in four general discussions: the scientific evidence for prayer, the controversies associated with prayer experiments, what prayer is, and how to pray. Prayer Is Good Medicine divides these discussions into four neatly contained sections. As prayer moves into the center stage of Western medicine Prayer Is Good Medicine acts as a modern-day prayer book as well as an ethical touchstone for healers and seekers.

From Publishers Weekly
Unlike medical practitioners in the East, many physicians in the West argue that the healing power of science is far superior to, and often incompatible with, the healing power of prayer. Yet, physician Dossey, attentive to the ways in which spiritual health affects bodily health, demonstrated in his Healing Words that the capacity of prayer to heal, combined with the capacity of science to heal, is far greater than the healing power of medicine alone. Using evidence from scientific studies regarding the beneficial effects of prayer on health, Dossey has here fashioned a kind of how-to manual for incorporating prayer into the process of healing. After first defining prayer as an attitude of the heart whose content is neither shaped by nor limited to a single religious tradition, Dossey then proceeds to explore the infinite variety of forms that prayer may take. Dossey's holistic vision challenges narrow religious views of prayer as well as conventional medical method of healing.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; 1 edition (July 8, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062514245
• ISBN-13: 978-0062514240
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #174,256 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dr. Dossey penetrates the power of prayer, August 21, 1999

By A Customer

As a bookseller for Pages For All Ages Bookstore, I chose this book as my book selection of the month. Dr. Dossey investigates the nature, essence and power of prayer for both good and evil, in a most convincing way. How one prays and their intentions are brilliantly probed with numerous examples. The theories propounded and advanced are completely consistent with reason and evidence. The impartial power of prayer to manifest as conspicuous result is beyond refute. But what one prays for and their intention determine the result. Dr. Dossy also delves into negative prayer, curses, hexes, angry thought, and the power of such prayers to exact harm, intentionally or unintentionally. This is a must read for anyone who prays or even for those who think they don't. Five Stars for the good Doctor.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars pray for optimal health, August 22, 1999

By A Customer

Dr. Larry Dossey is perhaps the worlds leading authority on prayer and health. This examination of the power of prayer in the healing process is even more important than Dr. Herbert Benson's Relaxation Response, Remembered Wellness, and Faith Factor. The reason for this is because Dr. Dossey elucidates the true nature of the mind-body connection and points the way for prayer to induce optimal healing benefits, regardless of spiritual discipline. Five Stars Dr. Dossey!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Inspirational Book on the Power of Prayer, June 6, 2005

By	Katie "book worm" (PA , USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I, like many people, started praying when I was old enough to talk. I vividly remember my favorite Aunt teaching me the "now I lay me down to sleep" prayer when I was about 3 or 4 - and I said this prayer every night before bed until I was old enough to come up with my own.

Although I prayed every night, I never really thought about whether or not my prayers would be answered - I guess I just assumed they would be. That was until I became an adult, and began to realize that some were not being answered at all. Of course, I realized afterwords that the "unanswered prayer" is sometimes a blessing in and of itself!

This book helps explain why some prayers are answered and others are not, and shows through scientific evidence that there is in fact power in prayer. This is an amazing breakthrough, as we are now facing a time when prayer is being banned in all of our schools - and yet it's being shown that prayer can be an amazingly wonderful & powerful force.

This book also raises some of the issues that may await our physicians now that it has been shown that prayer can in fact help to heal the sick. Will there be malpractice law suites if a dr. chooses not to pray for his/her patients? Will people who don't want to be prayed for sue their doctors who have prayed for their health? These are quite scarey questions!

Also, what about the people who choose prayer INSTEAD of western medicine? Are they really making the right choice? According to Dr. Dossey, the best route to take when faced with medical crises is to use all that is available to us - western medicine, alternative medicine, AND prayer - no one of these is mutually exclusive.

The most important finding though, in my opinion, is that prayer has been found to be equally effective regardless of one's religious beliefs. Although this finding has upset fundamentalists, I think it's a step in the direction of tolerance towards those who espouse beliefs that are different than our own. In this respect, as well as other's, this book has the potential to "change the world"...


I would recommend this book to everyone in the health profession, those suffering ill health, and anyone who is just plain interested in the power of prayer. The scientific evidence is out, and it appears that prayer has an amazing power - why not utilize this power to help yourself and your fellow man?