Vipassana Effects on Interpersonal Functioning

Abstract

Over the last decade, psychological researchers have begun exploring the effects of Vipassana, a meditation practice based on teachings expounded in the earliest Buddhist texts, dating back more than two-and-a-half millennia (Bodhi, 2005). Courses to learn the technique are widely available, with hundreds of thousands of participants attending residential courses at Vipassana meditation centres around the world every year (Vipassana Research Institute [VRI], 2010). An emerging body of evidence indicates that Vipassana meditation is beneficial to psychological health and wellbeing (e.g., Cohen, Jensen, Stange, Neuburger & Heimberg, 2017; Krygier et al., 2013; Szekeres & Wertheim, 2015). However, at present, the effect of Vipassana on interpersonal distress, a critical marker of psychopathology, appears not to have been explored. Furthermore, several prior Vipassana studies have produced findings that were inconsistent with other well-established findings. For example, Adhikari (2012) and Krygier et al. (2013) found that attending a Vipassana course had a non-significant effect on anxiety symptoms. However, there is a substantial body of evidence suggesting that meditation can reduce a range of psychopathological symptoms, including anxiety symptoms (e.g., Cohen et al., 2017; Hofmann, Sawyer, Witt, & Oh, 2010; Keng, Smoski, & Robins, 2011; Sedlmeier et al., 2012; Tomlinson, Yousaf, Vittersø, & Jones, 2018). The current study aims to explore the immediate and longer-term effects of attending a 10-day residential Vipassana course on self-reported dispositional mindfulness, symptoms of psychological distress (depression, anxiety and stress), and interpersonal distress, in a non-clinical, community sample. Positive results would support the notion that Vipassana meditation is an effective tool for improving functioning in a number of important domains that are critical to good psychological health (Girard et al., 2017).