Perspectives on Psychological Science
October 10, 2017
Nicholas T. van Dam, Marieke K. van Vugt, David R. Vago et al.
1,500 citations
Mindfulness meditation has become widely used in therapy, corporate wellness, education, and the military, but the research backing it has faced criticism for poor methodology and misinformation. This article reviews the current state of mindfulness research, discussing difficulties in defining mindfulness, the proper scope of studies, and key methodological issues. The authors summarize what is known and unknown, offering a prescriptive agenda for contemplative science that focuses on assessment, training, possible adverse effects, and brain imaging. The goal is to inform scientists, media, and the public, minimize harm, curb poor research practices, and stop the spread of misinformation about mindfulness's benefits, costs, and future.
PLoS One
May 24, 2017
Jared R. Lindahl, Nathan E. Fisher, David J. Cooper et al.
468 citations
Meditation practices derived from Buddhism are widely used for health promotion, but their traditional sources also describe a broader range of effects. The Varieties of Contemplative Experience study used interviews with Western Buddhist practitioners and experts from Theravāda, Zen, and Tibetan traditions, plus a follow-up survey, to investigate underreported meditation-related experiences, especially those that are challenging, distressing, or impairing. Thematic analysis produced a taxonomy of 59 experiences across 7 domains: cognitive, perceptual, affective, somatic, conative, sense of self, and social. Interpretations and responses varied greatly, with valence ranging from very positive to very negative and distress from minimal to severe. The study identified 26 influencing factors across 4 domains: practitioner-level, practice-level, relationships, and health behaviors.
Journal of school psychology
June 1, 2014
Willoughby B. Britton, Nathaniel E Lepp, Halsey F Niles et al.
253 citations
A pilot trial randomized 101 sixth-grade students to either a daily mindfulness meditation practice during an Asian history course or an active control activity during an African history course. Both groups showed significant decreases in clinical syndrome subscales and negative affect, with no difference between them in the extent of improvement. However, students who meditated were significantly less likely to develop suicidal ideation or thoughts of self-harm compared to controls. The findings suggest that mindfulness training may produce both unique benefits, such as reduced suicidal ideation, and non-specific benefits shared with other novel activities.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2017
Rahil Rojiani, Juan F. Santoyo, Hadley Rahrig et al.
232 citations
Women who took a 12-week college meditation course showed greater decreases in negative affect and larger increases in mindfulness and self-compassion than men. Women's improvements in negative affect were linked to gains in both mindfulness skills and self-compassion, while men showed non-significant increases in negative affect and their affect changes correlated only with the ability to describe emotions, not with experiential or self-acceptance measures. The findings suggest that women may respond more favorably than men to school-based mindfulness training and that tailoring interventions by gender could improve effectiveness.
Neuropsychology Review
August 4, 2021
Tim Whitfield, Thorsten Barnhofer, Rebecca L. Acabchuk et al.
193 citations
Mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) show a small but significant benefit for cognitive performance, particularly for executive function and working memory, according to a meta-analysis of 56 randomized controlled trials involving 2,931 adults. The overall effect favoring MBPs over comparators was small (g = 0.15). Benefits were strongest for non-clinical samples and adults over 60, and when MBPs were compared to inactive controls rather than active ones. No significant effects were found for other cognitive domains. Most studies had unclear risk of bias, and some statistical results were unreliable. The findings partially support the idea that mindfulness practice can enhance certain cognitive abilities.
Psychosomatic Medicine
November 1, 2011
R. Gina Silverstein, Anne-Catharine H. Brown, Harold D. Roth et al.
165 citations
Mindfulness meditation training improved women's ability to quickly register their own physiological responses to sexual stimuli, a skill known as interoceptive awareness. Women who completed a 12-week meditation course also showed better attention, less self-judgment, and reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression compared to an active control group. These improvements in interoceptive awareness were linked to reductions in psychological barriers that can interfere with healthy sexual functioning, suggesting mindfulness training may be a promising approach for treating female sexual dysfunction.
Psychological Science
March 24, 2004
Willoughby B. Britton, Richard R. Bootzin
156 citations
People who report having had a near-death experience during a life-threatening event show more temporal lobe epileptiform brain activity and more temporal lobe epilepsy symptoms than control subjects. However, contrary to earlier findings linking mystical experiences to the right temporal lobe, the epileptiform activity was almost entirely in the left hemisphere. Near-death experiencers do not show dysfunctional stress reactions such as dissociation, posttraumatic stress disorder, or substance abuse; instead they have positive coping styles. They also have altered sleep patterns: shorter sleep duration and delayed REM sleep. The findings suggest that altered temporal lobe functioning may play a role in near-death experiences and that these individuals are physiologically distinct from the general population.
Journal of school psychology
June 1, 2018
Yoona Kang, Hadley Rahrig, Kristina Eichel et al.
143 citations
Sixth graders who practiced short mindfulness meditation sessions four to five times per week for six weeks reported greater improvement in emotional wellbeing than those in an active control group. Gender moderated the effect: female meditators showed larger increases in positive affect compared to control females, while males in both groups improved equally. Among females only, gains in self-compassion were linked to better affect. The results suggest school-based mindfulness training benefits early adolescents, with distinct responses by gender.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2014
Jared R. Lindahl, Christopher T. Kaplan, Evan M. Winget et al.
123 citations
Meditation can induce visual light experiences, such as discrete lightforms and patterned or diffuse lights, which are well documented in Buddhist texts but rarely reported in scientific literature. Reports from American Buddhist practitioners closely match these traditional accounts. The paper argues that meditative practices that reduce sensory and social stimulation and focus attention produce perceptual and cognitive effects similar to sensory deprivation. Since sensory deprivation is known to increase neuroplasticity, meditation may similarly enhance neuroplastic potential. The findings suggest that scientists, clinicians, and meditators should be aware of this broader range of experiences arising from contemplative practice.
Psychotherapy Research
June 2, 2021
Simon B. Goldberg, Sin U Lam, Willoughby B. Britton et al.
110 citations
Meditation-related adverse effects (MRAE) are common, even among people with modest meditation experience. In a population-based survey, 32.3% of participants reported MRAE on a general item, and 50.0% reported at least one specific adverse effect. Anxiety, traumatic re-experiencing, and emotional sensitivity were the most common. Functional impairment occurred in 10.6% of participants, lasting at least one month for 1.2%. Childhood adversity was associated with higher risk for MRAE. Despite these effects, participants who reported MRAE were equally glad to have practiced meditation as those who did not. The findings suggest that transparency about possible risks and trauma-sensitive approaches are warranted.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
January 1, 2012
Douglas Roberts-Wolfe, Matthew D. Sacchet, Elizabeth Hastings et al.
79 citations
A 12-week mindfulness course increased recall of positive words and improved psychological well-being in university students compared to an active control (music) course. Greater positive word recall was linked to higher well-being and lower depression and anxiety. Mindfulness training may enhance well-being by altering how emotional information is processed, though self-selection could have influenced results.
Frontiers in Psychology
November 22, 2021
Willoughby B. Britton, Gaelle Desbordes, Rebecca L. Acabchuk et al.
77 citations
Self-related processes (SRPs) such as rumination, self-compassion, self-efficacy, and self-esteem are theorized to be key mechanisms of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs). This evidence map introduces a framework for categorizing SRPs and assesses how well mindfulness training engages these targets and whether engagement relates to improved outcomes. Rumination shows the strongest evidence as a mechanism for depression, with support for other health outcomes as well. Self-compassion consistently engages with mindfulness training but inconsistently links to better outcomes. Decentering and interoception are emerging potential mechanisms, though their construct validity remains under development. Few SRPs have been measured in MBIs, and more research with well-validated measures is needed.
Psychophysiology
February 19, 2022
Kirk Warren Brown, Daniel R. Berry, Kristina Eichel et al.
38 citations
Mindfulness-based trainings like Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teach two meditation forms: focused attention (FA) and open monitoring (OM). A dismantling trial compared structurally equivalent 8-week trainings in MBCT, FA, and OM among 89 community adults with varying depressive symptoms. Electroencephalographic (EEG) frontal alpha asymmetry and self-reported emotional responses to images were measured before and after training. FA and MBCT produced leftward shifts in frontal alpha asymmetry, indicating a shift toward approach-based positive affect, and improved self-reported emotional reactivity and regulation for negative images. OM showed limited benefits, restricted to subjective outcomes. The findings suggest MBCT's benefits may come mainly from FA training.
Religions
November 24, 2021
David J. Cooper, Jared R. Lindahl, Roman Palitsky et al.
20 citations
Energy-like somatic experiences (ELSEs), such as sensations of heat, tingling, or energy moving through the body, are frequently described in religious texts and have been documented in a few psychological studies, yet they remain understudied in meditation research. Based on narratives from a large qualitative sample of Western Buddhist meditators who reported meditation-related challenges, this paper describes how ELSEs manifest in practitioners' lives. It moves beyond a 'kundalini awakening' framework to catalog the metaphors practitioners used, the trajectories and impacts of ELSEs, factors influencing their nature, how they were interpreted by practitioners, teachers, doctors, and therapists, and the remedies employed. Interpreting and managing ELSEs often drew on frameworks from within or beyond the meditator's Buddhist tradition.
Consciousness and Cognition
March 1, 2024
Nicholas K. Canby, Jared R. Lindahl, Willoughby B. Britton et al.
11 citations
Experiences like mystical states, non-dual awareness, selflessness, and ego dissolution are increasingly studied in meditation and psychedelic research, but their definitions and measures often overlap and lack precision, especially regarding pathological experiences. In a survey of 386 people who reported an experience involving a loss of self or self-boundaries, researchers used statistical and qualitative methods to identify 16 distinct characteristics of such experiences. These included different types of changes in sense of self, accompanying phenomena, and cognitive or emotional responses. The results provide a more specific model for measuring and describing these experiences across contexts like meditation, psychedelics, and psychopathology.
Journal of Contemplative Studies
July 23, 2025
Roman Palitsky, David J. Cooper, Jared R. Lindahl et al.
10 citations
Western Buddhist meditators often draw on both religious and scientific worldviews to make sense of meditation-related challenges. Interviews with 68 meditators and 33 meditation experts revealed five ways these worldviews relate: conflict, compatibility, nested relationships, discrete domains, and complementarity. These varied relationships carry existential weight and influence how meditators respond to challenges. The findings suggest that the scientific study of contemplative practices should consider the diverse ways religion and science interact, and that nuanced understandings of these relationships can help practitioners and teachers address meditation-related difficulties.
PLoS One
January 1, 2025
Nicholas K. Canby, Elizabeth A Cosby, Roman Palitsky et al.
10 citations
Childhood trauma and PTSD symptoms are linked to worse depression outcomes and more meditation-related adverse effects in mindfulness-based programs. Across two clinical trials, total childhood trauma and childhood sexual abuse consistently predicted poorer depression outcomes. Childhood sexual abuse also predicted dropout in one study. Multiple forms of trauma and PTSD symptoms predicted meditation-related side effects, while total trauma, emotional abuse, and subclinical PTSD predicted lasting adverse effects. These findings suggest that trauma-sensitive modifications, safety monitoring, screening, and provider education are needed when implementing mindfulness programs for depression.
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
December 1, 2024
Roman Palitsky, Nicholas K. Canby, Nicholas T. van Dam et al.
6 citations
Research on adverse effects (AEs) of psychedelics has been limited, leading to underspecified profiles and potential undercounting. This article argues that meditation-related AE research, which shares phenomenological and contextual features with psychedelic AEs, offers valuable insights. An integrative review of both fields is presented, recommending that meditation AEs serve as a comparator condition. The authors propose adopting detailed, comprehensive, user-informed, impact-based, standardized, unbiased, and representative measures of AEs, along with examining factors that influence their impacts and trajectories, to advance psychedelic AE research.
Frontiers in Psychology
July 29, 2020
Jared R. Lindahl, D. James Cooper, Nathan E. Fisher et al.
2 citations
Buddhist meditation practitioners and teachers report a wider range of difficult or distressing experiences than previously discussed, some of which are considered expected on the contemplative path. Distinguishing these from psychopathology requires expanding assessment frameworks beyond normative fit with religious experience or mental illness to include the need for intervention, whether religious or clinical. Decision-making about intervention often depends on contextual factors, aligning with person-centered mental health care that considers interpersonal and cultural dynamics.
Frontiers in Psychology
October 24, 2025
Elizaveta Solomonova, Jared R. Lindahl, Ian Gold et al.
1 citation
Delusion-like ideation (DLI) occurs in psychopathology and among the general population, and meditation can trigger such experiences. Based on interviews with over 100 Buddhist meditation practitioners and experts, this mixed-methods study establishes a typology of eight types of DLI, reports their relative frequencies, and identifies impacts and treatment outcomes. Four case studies illustrate risk factors, trajectories, outcomes, and appraisals. Responses to DLI depend on type, duration, severity, impact, and appraisals by meditators, teachers, and psychiatrists. Some DLI phenomenology reflects Buddhist meditation cultures; although normalized in certain contexts, meditation experts consider DLI a potential "red flag" requiring monitoring or intervention. Explanatory models include environmental conditions of retreats, attention and sensory attenuation, and DLI as a cultural idiom of distress.
Contemporary Buddhism
April 22, 2025
Nicholas K. Canby, Jared R. Lindahl, David J. Cooper et al.
1 citation
Meditation teachers can have both beneficial and detrimental impacts on practitioners facing meditation-related challenges. A mixed-methods study of 68 meditation practitioners and 33 experts from various Buddhist lineages found that beneficial relationships involved access to well-qualified teachers, appropriate guidance, and teachers with psychology or mental health training. Unhelpful factors included teacher unavailability, limited student tracking or disclosure, invalidating or victim-blaming responses, lack of perceived expertise, and mismatched interpersonal or cultural dynamics. The psychologization of Buddhist meditation in the West shapes student-teacher relationships and expectations, especially during challenges.
Transcultural Psychiatry
August 1, 2023
Jared R. Lindahl, Roman Palitsky, David J Cooper et al.
Worldviews can both increase the risk of meditation-related challenges and serve as a remedy for them, depending on the individual. Buddhist practitioners and teachers in the contemporary West navigate both religious and scientific explanatory frameworks, a context shaped by "Buddhist modernism" which presents Buddhism as compatible with science. Interview data from the Varieties of Contemplative Experience project show that for some, having, applying, or changing a worldview helped mitigate challenging experiences or distress, while for others, worldviews acted as a risk factor influencing the onset and course of difficulties.
Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience
September 27, 2022
Peter F Hitchcock, Willoughby B. Britton, Kahini Mehta et al.
A computational model of decision-making shows that the tendency to judge oneself positively rather than negatively is linked to greater mindful awareness and lower depression, both before and after an 8-week mindfulness intervention with 96 participants. At the start, many different depression symptoms were associated with less positive self-judgment. Over the course of the intervention, changes in only a few anhedonia-related symptoms were substantially connected to this shift in self-judgment. The findings support cognitive theories that emphasize self-judgment in depression and mindfulness theories suggesting mindful awareness fosters more positive self-views.
Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science
May 18, 2021
Willoughby B. Britton, Jared R. Lindahl, David J. C. Cooper et al.
In a sample of 96 participants in an 8-week mindfulness-based cognitive therapy program, 83% reported at least one meditation-related side effect when assessed with the Meditation Experiences Interview. Negative-valence effects or negative impacts on functioning occurred in 58% and 37% of participants, respectively. Lasting bad effects, experienced by 6% to 14% of the sample, were linked to signs of dysregulated arousal such as hyperarousal and dissociation. The findings suggest that meditation practice in mindfulness-based programs is associated with transient distress and negative impacts at rates similar to those seen with other psychological treatments.
Current Opinion in Psychology
January 7, 2019
Willoughby B. Britton
Mindfulness-related processes, including mindful attention, emotion regulation, and meditation practice, may not be universally beneficial. Instead, they can follow an inverted U-shaped trajectory where their typically positive effects turn negative under certain conditions, such as excessive or misapplied practice. This review synthesizes evidence of non-monotonicity, boundary conditions, and negative effects across these processes. The authors propose a research agenda to investigate mindfulness as a non-monotonic phenomenon, which could explain the mix of positive, null, and negative effects observed in studies and help maximize the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions.