Depression, Guilt, and Tibetan Buddhism

Lynn E O’Connor,Jack W Berry,Rachna K Rangan,David J Stiver

doi:10.4236/psych.2012.329122

Lynn E O’Connor, Jack W Berry + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4236/psych.2012.329122

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Journal: Psychology	Publication Date: Jan 1, 2012
Citations: 21	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Samford University, Wright Institute

Abstract

Depression appears to be somewhat epidemic in the modern world. In prior empirical studies we found depression significantly associated with empathy-based guilt, empathic distress, and an overly active or misattributing moral system. In this study, we compared 98 Buddhists, who were primarily Tibetan meditation practitioners to 438 non-Buddhist, non-practicing community adults on a measure of depression along with measures of maladaptive guilt, empathic distress, anxiety and altruism. Our findings demonstrated that practitioners were significantly lower in depression, pathogenic guilt, anxiety, and empathic distress, and significantly higher on agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience and compassionate altruism directed towards strangers. Intensity of practice significantly correlated with positive outcomes. In addition, we found that within the population of Tibetan Buddhist practitioners, those who endorsed the statement that the goal of meditation was other-focused (for the benefit of all sentient beings) were significantly lower in depression, empathic distress, and anxiety, and significantly higher in cognitive empathy (perspective-taking) compared to practitioners whose goal of meditation was self-focused.

Highlights

After two decades of studying depression and its relationship to empathy based guilt associated with pathogenic cognitions, empathic distress, and both compassionate and pathological altruism, we became interested in examining the experience of Tibetan Buddhists who appear to be resilient and less vulnerable to depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
It seemed possible that factors as briefly described above, such as a belief in Karma, or a conviction that others are suffering more than oneself, in conjunction with a more general belief system grounded in compassion and altruism towards others, beyond friends and close family, the kind of empathy-based guilt we found associated with depression might be minimized
The Buddhists did not differ from the comparison group on altruism towards family and friends, they were significantly higher in altruism toward strangers

Summary

Introduction

After two decades of studying depression and its relationship to empathy based guilt associated with pathogenic cognitions, empathic distress, and both compassionate and pathological altruism, we became interested in examining the experience of Tibetan Buddhists who appear to be resilient and less vulnerable to depression and PTSD. Prior studies have indicated that refugees who have escaped countries where they were imprisoned and/or tortured were likely to exhibit high rates of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression (Mollica et al, 2001; Hollifield et al, 2002) It has been suggested by cross-cultural experts that immigration itself is strongly associated with episodes of major depressive disorders (Breslau et al, 2011). Studies by Holtz, 1998 and Keller et al, 2006 indicate that unlike many other political torture survivors, Tibetans in exile appear relatively resilient and optimistic Both Sachs et al, 2008 and Keller et al, 2006 hypothesized that something about the Tibetan Buddhist religion, either specific beliefs or practices or both, may serve as a protective factor against vulner-

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