Meditation and psychosis. The comparison of the current knowledge in the light of scientific evidence and the experience of an Eastern meditation teacher.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to compare the current knowledge on the relationship between the use of meditation techniques and the occurrence of psychosis with the experience of an Eastern meditation teacher, Osho Rajneesh. While searching the PubMed database using the keywords "meditation AND psychosis" 72 research articles were obtained, of which only 17 fully corresponded to the assumptions of the work. They included the case reports of the patients, as well as meta-analyses, and review articles related to both the positive and negative influence of meditation practices on mental health. Additionally, the information contained in 3 books was used. The etiology of meditation-induced psychotic episodes is not clear given the frequent presence of many coexisting factors including fasting, sleep deprivation, or a positive psychiatric history, as well as the limitation of the methodology. In the analyzed studies, only patients who did not meditate in clinical conditions were reported. The analysis of these cases indicates that the risk of a psychotic episode was associated with excessively long practice and lack of adequate supervision. The comparison of current scientific knowledge with the experience of the Eastern meditation teacher made it possible to draw attention to rarely described in literature risk factors of the development of psychosis, which include "specific traits" of the practitioner's attitude. One of its fundamental elements is an incorrect understanding of meditation as a task to perform, instead of an open, passive, and accepting attitude of observing the external and internal world.