Abstract
So far, the large and expanding body of research on meditation has mostly focussed on the putative benefits of meditation on health and well-being. However, a growing number of reports indicate that psychologically unpleasant experiences can occur in the context of meditation practice. Very little is known about the prevalence and potential causes of these experiences. The aim of this study was to report the prevalence of particularly unpleasant meditation-related experiences in a large international sample of regular meditators, and to explore the association of these experiences with demographic characteristics, meditation practice, repetitive negative thinking, mindfulness, and self-compassion. Using a cross-sectional online survey, 1,232 regular meditators with at least two months of meditation experience (mean age = 44.8 years ± 13.8, 53.6% female) responded to one question about particularly unpleasant meditation-related experiences. A total of 315 participants (25.6%, 95% CI: 23.1 to 28.0) reported having had particularly unpleasant meditation-related experiences, which they thought may have been caused by their meditation practice. Logistic regression models indicated that unpleasant meditation-related experiences were less likely to occur in female participants and religious participants. Participants with higher levels of repetitive negative thinking, those who only engaged in deconstructive types of meditation (e.g., vipassana/insight meditation), and those who had attended a meditation retreat at any point in their life were more likely to report unpleasant meditation-related experiences. The high prevalence of particularly unpleasant meditation-related experiences reported here points to the importance of expanding the scientific conception of meditation beyond that of a (mental) health-promoting and self-regulating technique. We propose that understanding when these experiences are constitutive elements of meditative practice rather than merely negative effects could advance the field and, to that end, we conclude with an overview of methodological and conceptual considerations that could be used to inform future research.
Highlights
Meditation practices and their psychological and neurobiological effects have been studied extensively [1]
Of the 1,232 participants, 25.6% (n = 315, 95% CI: 23.1 to 28.0) indicated that they had previously encountered unpleasant meditation-related experiences, which they thought may have been caused by their meditation practice
We found weak evidence that female participants were less likely to have unpleasant meditation-related experiences (OR = 0.75; 95% CI: 0.58 to 0.97; p = 0.030) and for an association between higher levels of repetitive negative thinking and unpleasant meditation-related experiences (OR = 1.02, 95% CI: 1.00 to 1.03, p = 0.025)
Summary
Meditation practices and their psychological and neurobiological effects have been studied extensively [1]. Much of the research output of the nascent field of contemplative science has focussed on the beneficial aspects of meditation [2]. This narrow investigative scope has implicitly and explicitly constructed an image of meditation as a panacea for an ever-increasing host of psycho-physical ailments. Until recently, contemporary research has paid little attention to unpleasant meditation-related experiences (e.g., anxiety, fear, distorted emotions or thoughts). Some researchers have recently tried to remedy this investigative lacuna by expanding the range and diversity of meditative experiences that fall within the ambit of empirical science [4, 5]
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