A Framework for the Empirical Investigation of Mindfulness Meditative Development
Julieta Galante, Andrea Grabovac, Malcolm Wright, Daniel M. Ingram, Nicholas T. van Dam, Joseph L. Sanguinetti, Terje Sparby, Remko Van Lutterveld, Matthew D. Sacchet
Mindfulness April 13, 2023 DOI: 10.1007/s12671-023-02113-8 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Longitudinal Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Psychotherapist Experiential learning Harm Contemplation Clinical psychology Cognitive psychology Epistemology Pedagogy |
| Citations | 82 |
| Key findings | Effects of continued mindfulness meditation may vary systematically over time due to factors such as initial dosage, accumulation of practice, developing skill, and interactions with past experiences and environment. |
Abstract
Abstract Millions of people globally have learned mindfulness meditation with the goal of improving health and well-being outcomes in both clinical and non-clinical contexts. An estimated half of these practitioners follow mindfulness teachers’ recommendations to continue regular meditation after completion of initial instruction, but it is unclear whether benefits are strengthened by regular practice and whether harm can occur. Increasing evidence shows a wide range of experiences that can arise with regular mindfulness meditation, from profoundly positive to challenging and potentially harmful. Initial research suggests that complex interactions and temporal sequences may explain these experiential phenomena and their relations to health and well-being. We believe further study of the effects of mindfulness meditation is urgently needed to better understand the benefits and challenges of continued practice after initial instructions. Effects may vary systematically over time due to factors such as initial dosage, accumulation of ongoing practice, developing skill of the meditator, and complex interactions with the subjects’ past experiences and present environment. We propose that framing mindfulness meditation experiences and any associated health and well-being benefits within integrated longitudinal models may be more illuminating than treating them as discrete, unrelated events. We call for ontologically agnostic, collaborative, and interdisciplinary research to study the effects of continued mindfulness meditation and their contexts, advancing the view that practical information found within religious and spiritual contemplative traditions can serve to develop initial theories and scientifically falsifiable hypotheses. Such investigation could inform safer and more effective applications of mindfulness meditation training for improving health and well-being.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Clinical populations | 2003 | Review | |
| Mindfulness: Theoretical Foundations and Evidence for its Salutary Effects | 2007 | Review | |
| Mindfulness Interventions | 2016 | Review | |
| Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation | 2017 | Review | |
| Mindfulness and acceptance: expanding the cognitive-behavioral tradition | 2005 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cited by 63
- Intensive whole-brain 7T MRI case study of volitional control of brain activity in deep absorptive meditation states. Cerebral Cortex January 14, 2024
- Uniting Contemplative Theory and Scientific Investigation: Toward a Comprehensive Model of the Mind Mindfulness April 10, 2023
- Volitional mental absorption in meditation: Toward a scientific understanding of advanced concentrative absorption meditation and the case of jhana. Heliyon May 14, 2024
- Within-subject reliability of brain networks during advanced meditation: An intensively sampled 7 Tesla MRI case study. Human Brain Mapping May 1, 2024
- Advanced and long-term meditation and the autonomic nervous system: A review and synthesis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews June 1, 2025
and 58 more in the library
Cites 47
- Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation Perspectives on Psychological Science October 10, 2017
- Neural correlates of attentional expertise in long-term meditation practitioners Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences June 28, 2007
- What defines mindfulness-based programs? The warp and the weft Psychological Medicine December 29, 2016
- Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Prevention of Depressive Relapse JAMA Psychiatry April 28, 2016
- Conceptual and methodological issues in research on mindfulness and meditation. American Psychologist October 1, 2015
and 42 more in the library