Meditation and psychosis. The comparison of the current knowledge in the light of scientific evidence and the experience of an Eastern meditation teacher
Marcel Baron, Agata Przybylska, Magdalena Justyna Piegza
Psychiatria Polska September 30, 2023 DOI: 10.12740/pp/onlinefirst/166516 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Argues that the etiology of meditation-induced psychotic episodes remains unclear given frequent coexisting factors such as fasting, sleep deprivation, and positive psychiatric history, plus methodological limitations. In the reviewed cases, risk was associated with excessively long practice and lack of adequate supervision. The author proposes that rarely described risk factors include the practitioner's 'specific traits' of attitude, especially treating meditation as a task to perform rather than an open, passive, accepting observation. |
Abstract
The aim of the study was to compare the current knowledge on the relationship between the use of meditation techniques and the occurrence of psychosis with the experience of an Eastern meditation teacher, Osho Rajneesh. While searching the PubMed database using the keywords "meditation AND psychosis" 72 research articles were obtained, of which only 17 fully corresponded to the assumptions of the work. They included the case reports of the patients, as well as meta-analyses, and review articles related to both the positive and negative influence of meditation practices on mental health. Additionally, the information contained in 3 books was used. The etiology of meditation-induced psychotic episodes is not clear given the frequent presence of many coexisting factors including fasting, sleep deprivation, or a positive psychiatric history, as well as the limitation of the methodology. In the analyzed studies, only patients who did not meditate in clinical conditions were reported. The analysis of these cases indicates that the risk of a psychotic episode was associated with excessively long practice and lack of adequate supervision. The comparison of current scientific knowledge with the experience of the Eastern meditation teacher made it possible to draw attention to rarely described in literature risk factors of the development of psychosis, which include "specific traits" of the practitioner's attitude. One of its fundamental elements is an incorrect understanding of meditation as a task to perform, instead of an open, passive, and accepting attitude of observing the external and internal world.
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 6
- Functional neuroanatomy of altered states of consciousness: The transient hypofrontality hypothesis Consciousness and Cognition May 19, 2003
- Meditation and psychosis. A trigger or a cure? Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy September 27, 2015
- Meditation-Induced Psychosis: Trigger and Recurrence Case Reports in Psychiatry August 13, 2021
- Meditation-induced psychosis: a narrative review and individual patient data analysis Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine October 31, 2019
- Hemodynamic responses on prefrontal cortex related to meditation and attentional task. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience February 17, 2015
and 1 more in the library