Meditation Practice and Research
Journal of Humanistic Psychology 1983 DOI: 10.1177/0022167883231004 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Interventions | Meditation Insight meditation |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | The author proposes that meditative traditions' models of human nature and consciousness encompass a wider range of states of consciousness and psychological well-being than traditional Western psychological models, and argues that meditation serves both as a self-regulation strategy for specific psychotherapeutic and psychophysiological aims and as a discipline for deep self-exploration and transformation. |
Abstract
This article provides an introduction and overview of meditation practice, theory, and research. The models of human nature and consciousness from the meditative traditions are compared with traditional Western psychological models, and the former are suggested to encompass a wider range of states of consciousness and psychological well-being. The various models and mechanisms, psychological and physiological, Eastern and Western, that have been advanced to account for the effects of meditation are reviewed. Meditation practice is discussed both as a self-regulation strategy for specific psychotherapeutic and psychophysiological aims and as a discipline for deep self-exploration and transformation. When used for intensive self-exploration, meditation is best viewed as one component of a process demanding and producing a thoroughgoing transformation of all aspects of life and thought. The progression of experiences, insights, and states of consciousness that tend to emerge with intensive insight meditation are descibed, as are the author's initial experiences. The research literature on the effects and therapeutic applications of meditation is reviewed. We know the outer world of sensations and actions, but our inner world of thoughts and feelings we know very little. The primary purpose of meditation is to become conscious of and familiar with our inner life. The ultimate purpose is to reach the source of life and consciousness. Skill in meditation affects deeply our character. We are slaves to what we do not know; of what we know we are masters. Whatever vice or weakness in ourselves we discover and understand its courses and its workings, we overcome it by the very knowing; the unconscious dissolves when brought into the conscious [Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, 1973, p. 15].
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 17
- Mindfulness in Education: Insights Towards an Integrative Paradigm 2021
- Psychotheraputic Dimensions of an Islamic-Sufi-Based Rehabilitation Center: A Case Study. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry June 1, 2022
- Mindful Apocalypse: Contemplative Anthropology Investigating Experiences of World-Loss in Deep Meditation Religions July 21, 2023
- Neural filters to conscious awareness and the phenomena that reduce their impact. International Review of Psychiatry 2025
- The effect of loving kindness meditation and student teachers stress and empathy June 12, 2012
and 12 more in the library
Cites 9
- Meditation as an intervention in stress reactivity. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1976
- Psychiatric Problems Precipitated by Transcendental Meditation Psychological Reports October 1, 1976
- Transcendental Meditation and Psychological Health Perceptual and Motor Skills October 1, 1974
- Influence of Transcendental Meditation upon Autokinetic Perception Perceptual and Motor Skills December 1, 1974
- Psychotherapeutic effects of transcendental meditation with controls for expectation of relief and daily sitting. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1976
and 4 more in the library