Being able to practise mindfulness at home at no cost makes it seem like the ideal remedy for stress and mental health problems. A form of Buddhist-based meditation called mindfulness focuses on being cognizant of your thoughts, feelings, and senses in the present.
The earliest known proof of this dates back more than 1,500 years and was discovered in India. Written by a group of Buddhists, the Dharmatrāta Meditation Scripture outlines a number of techniques and contains accounts of symptoms that may arise after meditation, such as worry and depression. It also describes cognitive abnormalities linked to psychotic, dissociative, and depersonalisation experiences.
There has been an explosion of scientific study in this field within the last eight years. These studies demonstrate that negative consequences are frequent. A 2022 study with a sample of 953 frequent meditation practitioners in the US revealed that more than 10% of participants reported side effects that significantly affected their daily lives and persisted for at least a month.
Anxiety and depressionare the most frequent side effects, per a 2020 analysis of more than 40 years of study. These are followed by psychotic or delusional symptoms, dissociation or depersonalisation, and fear or terror.
Additionally, studies have shown that negative effects from even little exposure to meditation can occur in persons without a history of mental health issues and can result in persistent symptoms.
There has long been evidence of these negative effects in the western world as well. A prominent member of the cognitive-behavioural science movement, Arnold Lazarus, stated in 1976 that meditation may cause “serious psychiatric problems such as depression, agitation, and even schizophrenic decompensation” if it is used carelessly.
