# Healing through faith: meeting a chaplain coupled with biblical readings could produce lymphocyte changes that correlate with brain activity (HEALING study)

## TL;DR

Meeting a chaplain and hearing biblical readings may influence brain activity and lymphocyte levels in hospitalized patients.

## Contribution

This study links brain activity in the angular gyrus to lymphocyte changes during faith-based interventions.

## Key findings

- Lymphocyte counts increased more after successful chaplain visits, though not significantly.
- A significant correlation was found between lymphocyte changes and angular gyrus activation during fMRI.
- The study suggests that understanding the chaplain's message may influence psycho-immunological effects.

## Abstract

Background: Faith and systems of beliefs are known to impact not only the emotional, but also the immunological state of believers in ways that we are just starting to understand. Moreover, clinical implications of previous studies are limited.

Purpose The aim of the “HEALING” (Hospital-based Ecumenical and Linguistic Immuno-NeuroloGic) Study was to examine immunological and neurological changes in hospitalized patients after meeting a chaplain coupled with biblical readings.

Methods: Hospitalized patients were pre-screened to find those who were the most in need of an intervention. A passage from the Bible was read to them during a meeting with the chaplain at the bedside (n= 20) or in the chapel (n= 18). No meeting occurred in the randomized control group (n=19). Blood samples were taken 30 minutes prior, and 60 minutes after the meeting to measure white blood cells (WBC), interferon gamma (IFN-γ), immunoglobulin M (IgM), IgA, IgG, and complement 3 (C3). A subgroup of the visited patients was subjected to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), where they were played an audiotape of readings of the same passage from the Bible (n=21).

Results: Lymphocyte counts increased more often after the more successful visits, but the immunological changes were not significant. Conversely, a significant (p
fwe=0.003) correlation was revealed between changes in lymphocytes and activation of the angular gyrus (left BA39) during fMRI, a brain area involved in word recognition.

Conclusions: Although limited by the sample size and cohort study design, the findings suggest the depth of psycho-immunological changes could depend on the degree to which the chaplains’ main message is understood.