DEBATE: The inevitable decline of mindfulness.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health November 2022 DOI: 10.1111/camh.12600 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Commentary Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Adverse effects Children Mental health |
| Key points | Argues that heightened enthusiasm for mindfulness led academics to promote it through facile metaphors, overhype findings, and neglect adverse effects, citing a failed large-scale schoolchildren trial costing £6.4 million and growing evidence of potential harms. |
Abstract
The use of mindfulness meditation as a well-being and clinical tool is being deeply challenged on various fronts. The recent failure of showing its salutary effects on schoolchildren, in a large-scale study, which stands as the most expensive study in the history of meditation science (£6.4 million), is accompanied by growing evidence of potential adverse effects associated with mindfulness practice. It is suggested that the heightened enthusiasm surrounding the benefits of mindfulness led academics to use facile metaphors to promote it (such as comparing the mind to a muscle) and distorted its presentation - both in disseminating overhyped findings and in neglecting the report of adverse effects.
Citations in the library
Cited by 6
- Mindfulness Through Storytelling for Mental Health of Primary School Children: Impact on Acceptability and Its Associations with Personality. Psychology Research and Behavior Management 2024
- Meditation Hindrances and Breakthroughs: A Multilevel First-Person Phenomenological Analysis Religions July 18, 2024
- Unexpected side effects: A cautionary note on challenges of persistent self-transcendence International Journal of Transpersonal Studies April 26, 2023
- Dōgen and the Boundaries of Secular Mindfulness Mindfulness May 2, 2026
- Letter to the Editor: Mindfulness will only be in decline if we stop being mindful. Child and Adolescent Mental Health February 27, 2025
and 1 more in the library
Cites 4
- Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being JAMA Internal Medicine January 6, 2014
- Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for preventing relapse in recurrent depression: A randomized dismantling trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology December 3, 2013
- Meditation Sickness The Oxford Handbook of Meditation October 8, 2020
- Adverse events in meditation practices and meditation‐based therapies: a systematic review Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica August 21, 2020