Prayer and healing

[unkleE]

Believers pray, including prayer for healing. But does it achieve anything?

This is obviously a contentious topic. Believers and unbelievers alike tend to quote studies that support their views (e.g. the study a few years back by the Templeton Foundation is often quoted by sceptics because it yielded a negative result).

I have been doing some internet 'research' to see what I could find. Here is a brief summary:

• It seems to be pretty well established that religious faith is associated with better rates of recovery from illness and medical procedures, and higher levels of physical and mental health. I have summarised some of the evidence here, but I need to update that information. Of course these facts could be explained by both supernatural and natural causes.
  
  
• I have discovered 20 medical studies (summarised here) on the effects of distant and often anonymous prayer on patient health, and 4 reviews of the available studies. Of these, 13 of the 20 found statistically significant positive benefits while 7 (including a couple of the most prestigious studies) found no significant benefit. The reviews were split 2 each way on whether the data overall indicated a significant benefit or not.
  
  
• Sceptics tend to dismiss the whole idea, and dismiss some of the studies as unreliable. Some believers are also critical, thinking the studies de-personalise prayer and God, whereas other believers are encouraged by the studies. The medical profession seems to be willing to sidestep the rhetoric in its search for better therapies, and seems to be cautiously seeking more definitive results.
  

Clearly we haven't heard the final word on this, but it seems to me that these results are more or less what I as a believer might expect.

I'm wondering whether others here have any familiarity with these things, and whether you welcome the results or are embarrassed that people could be so crass?