'I was the void': What happens when meditation goes wrong
In recent years, there has been a huge uptake in meditation, promoted to improve mental and physical health. But it can be harmful for some people.
Many people mistakenly believe that meditation is harmless, but research suggests that one in ten meditators experience an adverse effect lasting more than a month or associated with impairment and functioning. This is concerning given the increasing popularity of meditation, particularly mindfulness-based practices. In the US, 20% of the population now meditates, up from 10% over the past two decades, and in Australia, one-third of the population practices meditation.
Dr Willoughby Britton, an associate professor of psychiatry at Brown University, is a leading researcher studying meditation-related adverse effects. Despite initially promoting meditation's benefits, Britton now acknowledges the potential negative impacts. She once spent 20 years promoting meditation's benefits without measuring any adverse effects.
Britton's research has uncovered more than 50 adverse meditation-related symptoms, including hyperarousal (anxiety, fear, insomnia, involuntary movements, and emotional flooding) and hypoarousal (lack of emotion, motivation, and sense of self). Many reported feeling dysregulated, experiencing both hyper and hypo arousal. Some even reported psychosis symptoms lasting between one and three years, with significant impairment in functioning.
Adverse effects can occur from short exposures to intensive practices. One retiree, Jane, experienced psychosis after attending her fourth five-day meditation retreat. She felt like her mind was "fizzing" and her husband later diagnosed her with psychosis and mania. Jane was hospitalized multiple times and treated with antipsychotic medications.
Written by urgent.news from ABC News AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
