Pain relief associated with a religious visitation: a case report.

A 68-year-old black woman tolerated partial colectomy for resection of a carcinoma with minimal postoperative discomfort and without the need of any analgesia. She attributed her positive experience to the presence of protective angels. Psychologic interviews and testing revealed her to be fully in touch with reality. Her experience, as well as those of similar patients reported in the medical literature, has biological, sociocultural, and psychological components. The role of religious belief in the pain experience has received scant attention, but it constitutes a challenging area for future research.