admin answers:

In The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, he refers to a study done by [I forget]. In the study he had so many sick patients to work with. Some would receive prayers and not know it, others no prayers at all and some would receive prayers and know it. The ones who received prayers and didn’t know it and the ones who didn’t receive prayers at all weren’t any different. However the ones that did receive prayers and did know it seemed to be worse off. They think this might have caused some anxiety in those patients, that they probably thought ‘what could possibly be wrong with me that I need a bunch of people praying for me.’

In my own opinion (which is worth very little seeing as how I am 20 and have no degree in anything at the moment) I think the placebo effect could do wonders. But still don’t give up modern medicine for prayer or meditation, that’s ludicrous.