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- Should Meditation Come with a Warning? Understanding the Risks of Mindfulness
Should Meditation Come with a Warning? Understanding the Risks of Mindfulness
MIndful Petals
September 30, 2024
Meditation, especially mindfulness meditation, has become a go-to method for reducing stress and improving mental health. From apps to wellness retreats, the practice is widely promoted as a quick fix for modern life’s pressures. But what if it’s not always that simple? While meditation has many benefits, it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. In fact, some people report feeling worse after meditating. So, should meditation come with a warning label?
Photo by Jarrod Erbe on Unsplash
The Spiritual Origins and Early Concerns
Meditation has deep roots in Buddhist traditions, dating back over 1,500 years. Early Buddhist teachings even noted that meditation could lead to emotional struggles like anxiety, depression, and confusion. This wasn’t often talked about until more recently. In the 1970s, psychologist Arnold Lazarus voiced concerns that meditation could cause serious mental health problems, including severe agitation and depression. While these warnings were largely overlooked at the time, recent research shows that Lazarus was onto something.
Modern Studies on Meditation’s Side Effects
Today, researchers are exploring how meditation affects mental health in ways that aren’t always positive. A 2022 study of 953 meditators in the U.S. found that over 10% had negative experiences that disrupted their daily lives for more than a month. The most common issues? Anxiety, depression, and feelings of detachment from reality. Some even experienced psychotic episodes.
These findings weren’t limited to people who already had mental health conditions. In fact, a 2020 review of over 40 years of research showed that even people with no history of mental illness can be affected. Surprisingly, it didn’t matter how long they had been practicing meditation — people with moderate experience were just as likely to face challenges as beginners.
Mindfulness for Profit: The Ethical Dilemma
Mindfulness has turned into a booming industry, worth over $2 billion in the U.S. alone. From guided meditations to self-help books, mindfulness is marketed as the cure for almost everything. But here’s the problem: many of these products fail to mention the potential downsides.
Jon Kabat-Zinn, a major advocate of mindfulness, admitted in 2017 that much of the research claiming its benefits is flawed. Yet, mindfulness continues to be sold as a life-changing practice that can transform not just individuals but entire communities. Critics argue that if we’re going to sell mindfulness as a mental health tool, consumers deserve to know the risks upfront.
The Pricey Study That Challenged Mindfulness in Schools
One of the largest and most expensive studies on mindfulness, funded by the Wellcome Trust, looked at over 8,000 children across 84 schools in the U.K. between 2016 and 2018. The goal was to see if mindfulness could help improve the kids’ mental health. Surprisingly, the results showed no significant improvement. In fact, for children at risk of mental health issues, mindfulness seemed to make things worse.
The Role of Mindfulness Instructors
A big part of the problem is that many mindfulness instructors don’t know about these potential risks. When people report feeling worse after meditating, they’re often told to “just keep going.” Unfortunately, this advice can do more harm than good. It’s only recently that researchers have started focusing on how to teach meditation in a way that minimizes risks.
What Needs to Change
As meditation continues to gain popularity, especially in the wellness world, there’s a growing need for transparency about its potential harms. Ethical mindfulness practice means being upfront about both the benefits and the risks. Some websites and academic resources are starting to include information about the downsides of meditation. In the U.S., clinical services are now available for people who experience serious meditation-related issues.
Going forward, we need more thorough research, better training for mindfulness instructors, and a stronger commitment to promoting mindfulness ethically. Until then, it’s important to remember that meditation isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay.
Final Thoughts
Meditation can be an incredibly helpful tool, but it’s not without its risks. The rapid commercialization of mindfulness often overshadows the need for clear warnings about these potential harms. If mindfulness is going to maintain its status as a respected mental health practice, it’s essential that practitioners are given honest, research-backed information to help them make informed decisions.