A new study has shown that prayer helps reduce cravings of recovering alcoholics.
According to CBN News, the study was conducted by New York University's
Langone Medical Center. The results were published in the American
Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse.
The study measured the results of prayer on 20 long-term members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).
The subjects participating in the study were shown images of alcoholic
drinks and of people enjoying them. The images caused all study
participants to crave alcohol.
The study participants were then given newspapers to read to try to
overcome their cravings. Their desire for alcohol remained the same,
however.
The participants were then told to recite the AA prayer called “The
Serenity Prayer,” which says, “God, grant me the serenity to accept the
things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom
to know the difference.”
When they were praying, the study participants’ alcohol cravings were reduced.
"Our findings suggest the experience of AA over the years had left
these members with an innate ability to use the AA experience – prayer
in this case – to minimize the effect of alcohol triggers in producing
craving," said senior study author Marc Galanter, MD, professor of
psychiatry and director of the Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse at
NYU Langone.
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