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An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

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7.7. ConclusionThis chapter has examined <strong>the</strong> processes <strong>of</strong> seeking health through <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong>supplicative <strong>and</strong> intercessory prayer, using <strong>the</strong> health belief <strong>and</strong> health promotionmodels. It goes beyond <strong>the</strong> earlier work <strong>of</strong> Byrd (1998) <strong>and</strong> Dossey (1997) <strong>and</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rwork examined in <strong>the</strong> most recent survey <strong>of</strong> how outcomes might be affected by prayerby Narayansamy <strong>and</strong> Narayansamy (2008), in that it does not treat prayer as a simpleundifferentiated variable, but examines it as a complex <strong>and</strong> variegated social process.Like Narayansamy <strong>and</strong> Narayansamy, however, this <strong>the</strong>sis points to prayer ascomplementary to pr<strong>of</strong>essional healthcare in allowing <strong>the</strong> body to heal, triggeringmechanism for counteracting stress, <strong>and</strong> promoting positive emotions, activating <strong>the</strong>hormonal <strong>and</strong> cardiovascular system, <strong>and</strong> evoking psychological responses such asdecreased heart rate <strong>and</strong> decreased blood pressure..258

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