The mind’s abyss: Exploring the adverse effects of distinct forms of meditation
Academia Mental Health and Well-Being April 14, 2025 DOI: 10.20935/mhealthwellb7666 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Adverse effects of meditation, including heightened psychiatric symptoms and ego dissolution, are linked to neurological mechanisms and increase with meditation experience. |
Abstract
Meditation, traditionally seen as a path to spiritual enlightenment, is commonly used in therapeutic contexts for its mental health benefits, such as reducing stress, anxiety, and depression. However, alongside these benefits, practitioners of diverse forms of meditation have repeatedly been reporting adverse effects (AEs) of meditation. While most of these AEs are transient, some of them are significant enough to warrant clinical attention. This review synthesizes the existing literature on AEs associated with three forms of meditation: focused attention (FA), open monitoring (OM), and loving–kindness/compassion (LK/C) meditation, linking AEs with their neurological underpinnings. Potential AEs range from heightened psychiatric symptoms due to increased interoceptive/exteroceptive awareness over intensified awareness of suffering—with the insular cortex playing a major role—to ego dissolution (accompanied by the deactivation of the default mode network) and subsequent depersonalization and derealization. While changes in interoception/exteroception and awareness of suffering are most common in OM and LK/C meditation (even though most AEs reported stem from FA meditation), AEs related to ego dissolution are common in all three forms investigated here. The prevalence of AEs tends to increase with meditation experience; however, experienced meditators also tend to exhibit better emotional and cognitive regulation strategies on average (as is shown by increased regulatory ability in the prefrontal cortex) and show more adherence to the core mindfulness principles of acceptance and nonreactivity. Guidance and individualized approaches might be needed when introducing meditation to novices, especially in the case of vulnerable populations.
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
Cites 83
- Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being JAMA Internal Medicine January 6, 2014
- Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Neuroreport November 7, 2005
- Mindfulness Interventions Annual Review of Psychology September 30, 2016
- Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 23, 2011
- Attending to the present: mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience August 13, 2007
and 78 more in the library