MADISON, Wis., Dec. 14 (UPI) -- In a study of victims of violent relationships with intimate partners, U.S. researchers found prayer helped them vent their anger.
Shane Sharp, a graduate sociology student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, interviewed dozens of victims of violent relationships with intimate partners and found prayer helped them not only vent anger, but it raised their self-worth and distracted them from their anxiety.
"I looked at the act of praying, of speaking to God, as the same as a legitimate social interaction," Sharp says in a statement. "Instead of a concrete interaction you would have face-to-face with another person, prayer is with an imagined other."
The word "imagined," Sharp says, does not diminish God's role.
"On the contrary, I wouldn't expect prayer to have these benefits for people if they thought God wasn't real," Sharp says. "The important point is that they believe God is real, and that has consequences for them emotionally and for their behavior."
However, the study, published in Social Psychology Quarterly, notes prayer may not always be positive. For example, if prayer helps victims forgive their abusive partners, it can be good to let the past go, but it is bad if it lets a victim stay in a dangerous relationship, the study says.
