Current Opinion in Psychology
February 1, 2026
Karin Matko, Nicholas T. van Dam
4 citations
Despite the growing popularity of mindfulness, mindfulness-based programs (MBPs), and meditation, potential harms have largely been overlooked. Recent studies reveal that 25-87 % of those who engage in meditation report adverse effects (AEs), with 3-37 % experiencing functional impairment (e.g., inability to work). It remains unclear to what extent AEs reflect transitory discomfort vs. lasting...
Current Opinion in Psychology
August 6, 2025
Iva Totomanova, Eline Haijen, Petra P M Hurks et al.
5 citations
Microdosing psychedelics, the regular use of low doses of LSD or psilocybin, have attracted growing public and scientific interest. This review synthesizes findings from 57 human studies on psychological and physiological outcomes in clinical and non-clinical populations. Reported benefits include improved mood, enhanced cognition, social functioning, and mental health, although findings are...
Current Opinion in Psychology
April 1, 2025
Matthias Forstmann, Christina Sagioglou
11 citations
Recent research suggests that serotonergic psychedelics may simultaneously enhance connectedness to both social and natural worlds. This article synthesizes current evidence regarding psychedelics' effects on nature relatedness and social connectedness, examining underlying mechanisms through the framework of self-other overlap. Psychedelics appear to facilitate self-expansion through two...
Current Opinion in Psychology
April 1, 2021
Ian Hamilton, Harry Sumnall
This review provides the reader with an update on developments in research relating to cannabis psychosis. For over four decades researchers and clinicians have focused on the relationship between exposure to cannabis and the emergence of psychotic symptoms. This has proved to be a complicated topic to investigate but research has provided some valuable insights as to the nature of this...
Current Opinion in Psychology
July 16, 2020
Emese Kroon, Lauren Kuhns, Janna Cousijn
The aim of this review is to discuss the most recent evidence for the short-term and long-term effects of cannabis on cognition. The evidence that cannabis intoxication is associated with short-term impairment across several basal cognitive domains, including learning and (episodic) memory, attentional control, and motor inhibition is increasing. However, evidence regarding the effects of...
Current Opinion in Psychology
August 1, 2019
Poppy la Schoenberg, David R. Vago
59 citations
Exploration of human consciousness remains a final frontier within basic neuroscience; that is, how the finite biological structure and function of the brain give rise to the seemingly infinite expanse that encompasses the terrain of the mind. Contemporary mindfulness and other contemplative practices across historical and post-modern traditions involve systematic forms of mental training that...
Current Opinion in Psychology
August 1, 2019
Wendy Hasenkamp
15 citations
The modern mindfulness movement rests largely on the twin pillars of scientific investigation and Buddhist philosophy of mind. However, in its current form and application, the scientific study of meditation is celebrated while the Buddhist roots of these practices and modes of investigation are often obscured. This paper highlights the utility and value of Buddhist ideas in the context of...
Current Opinion in Psychology
August 1, 2019
Tania Singer, Veronika Engert
Mindfulness interventions have gained much attraction, also due to their promise to improve health and wellbeing. However, not enough attention is devoted to the differentiation between various mental practice types. Here, we summarize findings from the ReSource Project, a 9-month longitudinal mental training study comparing practices focusing on (a) present-moment attention and interoception,...
Current Opinion in Psychology
August 1, 2019
Cortland J. Dahl, Richard J. Davidson
Despite the growing popular and scientific interest in mindfulness and other forms of meditation, there are important gaps in our understanding of the full range of contemplative practices and the manner in which specific forms of meditation may contribute to well-being. In this article, we discuss the relationship between mindfulness and other forms of meditation, such as those related to...
Current Opinion in Psychology
August 1, 2019
Marieke K. van Vugt, Amir Moye, Swagath Sivakumar
Computational modeling and meditation are not frequently mentioned in the same breath. However, in this article we argue that computational modeling can provide insights into the mechanisms by which meditation produces its effects on cognition. Moreover, computational modeling allows the researcher to make predictions about how effects of meditation will generalize to other contexts such as...
Current Opinion in Psychology
August 1, 2019
Brandon G King, Quinn A Conklin, Anthony P Zanesco et al.
Contemporary investigations of mindfulness and meditation have predominately emphasized the short-term effects of brief inductions or standardized, multi-week interventions in people with little to no prior meditation experience. Considerably less is known about the effects of continued or intensive meditation practice as proficiency and expertise are acquired over time. In this article, we...
Current Opinion in Psychology
August 1, 2019
David R. Vago, Resh S Gupta, Sara W. Lazar
One potential pathway by which mindfulness-based meditation improves health outcomes is through changes in cognitive functioning. Here, we summarize and comment upon three systematic reviews conducted over the last seven years that have had the goal of identifying the impact of mindfulness on cognitive outcomes. In our analysis, we identified a number of methodological limitations and potential...
Current Opinion in Psychology
July 11, 2019
David S. Black, Georgia Christodoulou, S. Cole
Recent research in functional genomics shows that social stressors affect the expression of immune response genes. These effects are mediated in part via our adaptive capacity for intracellular molecules to respond to extracellular signals, a process called signal transduction. Under this framework, one way stressors can be transduced into cellular changes is through central nervous system...
Current Opinion in Psychology
April 18, 2019
Yi-Yuan Tang, R. Tang, Mary K. Rothbart et al.
Both brain alpha and theta power have been examined in the mindfulness meditation literature and suggested as key biological signatures that potentially facilitate a successful meditative state. However, the exact role of how alpha and theta waves contribute to the initiation and maintenance of a meditative state remains elusive. In this perspective paper, we discuss the role of frontal midline...
Current Opinion in Psychology
January 28, 2019
Z. Segal, Sona Dimidjian, Rachel Vanderkruik et al.
Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy is a multimodal intervention that integrates training in mindfulness meditation and the cognitive theory of affective disorder. This hybrid nature may provide an advantage in the prevention field that addresses the critical need for enhancing wellness among people with recurrent mood disorders. Despite the robust evidence base for MBCT, its penetration at the...
Current Opinion in Psychology
January 14, 2019
E. Garland, Barbara L. Fredrickson
131 citations
The Mindfulness-to-Meaning Theory (MMT) is a temporally-dynamic process model of mindful positive emotion regulation that elucidates downstream cognitive-affective mechanisms by which mindfulness promotes health and resilience. Here we review and extend the MMT to explicate how mindfulness fosters self-transcendence by evoking upward spirals of decentering, attentional broadening, reappraisal,...
Current Opinion in Psychology
January 7, 2019
Willoughby B. Britton
Previous research has found that very few, if any, psychological or physiological processes are universally beneficial. Instead, positive phenomena tend to follow a non-monotonic or inverted U-shaped trajectory where their typically positive effects eventually turn negative. This review investigates mindfulness-related processes for signs of non-monotonicity. A number of mindfulness-related...
Current Opinion in Psychology
November 10, 2018
Ruth A. Baer
Assessment of mindfulness is essential to understanding its relationships with psychological functioning. Currently, mindfulness is most often assessed with self-report questionnaires. Although additional work is required, mindfulness questionnaires have reasonable psychometric properties and are making important contributions to the understanding of mindfulness and its effects on health and...
Current Opinion in Psychology
October 25, 2018
Claire Petitmengin, Martijn van Beek, Michel Bitbol et al.
163 citations
Numerous scientific studies are conducted on the neurophysiological effects of meditation practices and on the neural correlates of meditative states. However, very few studies have been conducted on the experience associated with contemplative practice: what it is like to meditate - from moment to moment, at different stages of different forms of practice - remains almost invisible in...