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Depression, Guilt, and Tibetan Buddhism

Lynn E. O’Connor, Jack W. Berry, David J. Stiver, Rachna K. Rangan

Psychology 2012 DOI: 10.4236/psych.2012.329122 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Cross-sectional comparative study Peer reviewed
Sample size 536
Population 98 primarily Tibetan Buddhist meditation practitioners and 438 non-Buddhist, non-practicing community adults
Topics Buddhism Depression
Citations 14
Key findings Buddhist meditation practitioners reported significantly lower depression, pathogenic guilt, anxiety, and empathic distress, and higher agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, and compassionate altruism toward strangers than non-practicing adults. Practice intensity correlated with positive outcomes, and practitioners with an other-focused meditation goal reported lower depression, empathic distress, and anxiety and higher perspective-taking than those with a self-focused goal.

Abstract

Depression appears to be somewhat epidemic in the modern world. In prior empirical studies we found depression significantly associated with empathy-based guilt, empathic distress, and an overly active or misattributing moral system. In this study, we compared 98 Buddhists, who were primarily Tibetan meditation practitioners to 438 non-Buddhist, non-practicing community adults on a measure of depression along with measures of maladaptive guilt, empathic distress, anxiety and altruism. Our findings demonstrated that practitioners were significantly lower in depression, pathogenic guilt, anxiety, and empathic distress, and significantly higher on agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience and compassionate altruism directed towards strangers. Intensity of practice significantly correlated with positive outcomes. In addition, we found that within the population of Tibetan Buddhist practitioners, those who endorsed the statement that the goal of meditation was other-focused (for the benefit of all sentient beings) were significantly lower in depression, empathic distress, and anxiety, and significantly higher in cognitive empathy (perspective-taking) compared to practitioners whose goal of meditation was self-focused.

Comparable studies

Other cross-sectional and survey studies on buddhism, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
The Mediating Role of Precepts and Meditation on Attachment and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents. Thai boarding-school students in 10th-12th grade from five schools (two Buddhist, three... 2023 Cross-sectional survey with parallel mediation analysis n = 453
Personality Traits and Future Anxiety in Buddhisms: a Study of Adult Tibetan Buddhist Practitioners from Uruguay Members of three Tibetan Buddhist groups in Uruguay, plus religious and non-religious... 2022 Cross-sectional comparison n = 156
The impact of Zen meditation on security and satisfaction in monogamous relationships Men and women aged 18 or older in monogamous relationships for one year or more 2011 Observational study (survey) n = 405
Synergistic effects of Buddhist five precepts and death contemplation on inner strengths and mental health in elderly Thai meditators. Elderly Thai Buddhist meditators aged 60 and above from temples and meditation centers... 2025 Cross-sectional study n = 332
Death recollection moderates stress-influenced depression in Thai boarding school students. Thai boarding school students aged 15–18 2025 Cross-sectional survey with moderation analysis n = 440

Citations in the library

Cited by 2

Cites 5

Related reading

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Buddhism Depression Anxiety Meditation