Mindfulness and Trauma: Some Striking Similarities

Yochai Ataria

doi:10.1111/anoc.12086

Mindfulness and Trauma: Some Striking Similarities

Yochai Ataria

Anthropology of Consciousness March 1, 2018 DOI: 10.1111/anoc.12086 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract

Characteristics	Qualitative study Peer reviewed
Sample size	12
Population	Senior meditators, compared with trauma survivors from the author's other qualitative studies
Intervention	Meditation
Topics	Meditation
Key findings	Argues that meditation and traumatic experience, though different in helplessness, shock, and perceived benefit, share the same underlying mechanism: the collapse of the intentional structure, which diminishes the gap between Me and Not-Me and results in loss of the first-person bodily egocentric perception of the world.

Abstract

Abstract: The traumatic experience and the meditative experience differ in many respects. For instance, it is possible to suggest that while a sense of helplessness is the most important feature of the traumatic experience, meditation does not involve a similar sense of helplessness. Furthermore, while trauma is shocking and horrifying, meditation is considered to be constructive and efficient in reducing stress and improving welfare. Yet, with this in mind, by comparing interviews with twelve senior meditators on the one hand and interviews with survivors of traumatic experiences from other qualitative studies of mine on the other, this paper suggests that essentially both phenomena are rooted in the same mechanism: the collapse of the intentional structure. More precisely, in both cases, the intentional structure collapses and, as a result, the gap between Me versus Not–Me diminishes: in that case, one loses the first‐personal bodily egocentric perceptive upon the world.

Comparable studies

Other qualitative studies on meditation, most cited first.

Study	Year	Design	Participants
The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists Western Buddhist meditation practitioners and experts in Theravāda, Zen, and Tibetan...	2017	Qualitative study with mixed-methods
The Effects of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction on Nurse Stress and Burnout Nurses in a hospital system	2004	Implementation study with mixed methods
An exploratory mixed methods study of the acceptability and effectiveness of mindfulness -based cognitive therapy for patients with active depression and anxiety in primary care Primary care patients with recurrent depression or recurrent depression and anxiety	2006	Exploratory mixed methods study	n = 13
A qualitative study of mindfulness‐based cognitive therapy for depression Participants in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in a mental-health context	2001	Qualitative study	n = 7
Effortless awareness: using real time neurofeedback to investigate correlates of posterior cingulate cortex activity in meditators' self-report Meditators	2013	Qualitative study using grounded theory methodology

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