Meditation—which is widely believed to be an antidote to mental health issues—may not always be a pleasant experience for everyone, according to scientists who advocate more research into such practices.
The research, led by scientists from University College London (UCL) in the UK, found that over a quarter of people who regularly meditate have had a ‘particularly unpleasant’ psychological experience related to the practice, including feelings of fear and distorted emotions.
Published in the journal PLOS ONE, the study also found those who had attended a meditation retreat, those who only practiced deconstructive types of meditation, such as Vipassana (insight) and Koan practice (used in Zen Buddhism), and those with higher levels of repetitive negative thinking, were more likely to report a ‘particularly unpleasant’ meditation-related experience.
However, the study, which comprised an international online survey of 1,232 people who had at least two months’ meditation experience, found female participants and those with a religious belief were less likely to have had a negative experience.
“These findings point to the importance of widening the public and scientific understanding of meditation beyond that of a health-promoting technique,” said Marco Schlosser, a researcher at UCL.
