Meditation is fashionable. And not on the recommendation of psychologists, but rather on the recommendation of influential peopleIn recent years, many people have supported the idea meditation and mindfulness seeing how they changed the lives of their online idols 180 degrees. To take advantage of this trend, all sorts of videos and apps have emerged that allow anyone to meditate at home without the need for assistance. The benefits of meditation have been proclaimed from the rooftops, but what about the harm? Doesn’t it have that?
Meditation is often presented as something therapeutic. Helps control stress, anxiety, and even symptoms of depression. It is true that there are studies that prove this. But curiously, the vast majority of them do not analyze whether there are any negative consequences of this kind of practice. No, meditation is not a cure, but that does not mean that it cannot be counterproductive for some people or if done incorrectly.
He talks about all this in an article for Talk Professor of Experimental Psychology at Coventry University. Miguel FariasOver the years, he has devoted part of his research to analyzing the effects of meditation, especially mindfulness, and has found that it is not as harmless as we are told.
What is mindfulness?
Of all the forms of meditation, mindfulness has perhaps gained the most publicity in recent years. It is a Buddhist technique, but is now widely used in the West thanks to a very extensive marketing campaign.
Also known as meditation full attentionessentially consists of what its name promises: full concentration on what you are doing. For example, while we brush our teeth, we should be present in the process, listening to the sound of running water, inhaling the aroma of toothpaste, or feeling the tears from the brush on our gums. The goal is to have no other thoughts enter the mind throughout the entire session. At first, this is almost impossible, but gradually it can be trained.
The goal is very good. Sometimes we live more in the mistakes of the past and the uncertainty of the future than in enjoying and living the present. Through meditation in general and mindfulness in particular, we can learn to change this. Some psychologists believe that this is a good tool for specific cases. But be careful with this. It’s another tool. There are no mental health issues that could be heal with meditation. And this is not for everyone either. Some people can benefit from it, but others will suffer. So it is much more useful to consult a psychologist who can suggest which techniques are best for us, rather than just using an app recommended by the influencer on duty.
The Dangers of Meditation
Buddhists themselves already warn that meditation and mindfulness are not suitable for everyone and therefore can have adverse effects. For example, in the Holy Scriptures Dharmatra Meditationtext written in India 1500 years agothere is already talk about the appearance symptoms of depression after practicing meditation. It is also noted that there may be side effects such as psychotic breaks, dissociation and depersonalizationIn psychology, dissociation means a feeling of distance from the environment and emotions of the present. As if we were not experiencing the situation. Depersonalization is something similar. It can happen, for example, during an anxiety attack, and the person suffering from it feels like they are seeing themselves from the outside.
All of these effects of meditation were confirmed in a review of more than 40 years published in 2020. But then why do so many people say meditation benefits them?
Placebo and incomplete studies
Even some experts in the field of meditation and mindfulness have acknowledged that many of the studies that merely point to benefits have very poor experimental design. To begin with, they are often conducted with a small number of participants. For example, in 2019, the results of a study on the impact of meditation on students were published, in which only 88 young people. That same year, another mindfulness study recruited 92 students to test its effectiveness as a treatment for anxiety and stress. Always fewer than 100.
To complete these studies, another, much more comprehensive study was conducted in 2022, also with students. They participated 8000 childrencoming from 84 schools in the United Kingdom. The aim was to test whether mindfulness helped children improve their emotional well-being and reduce anxiety compared to a control group that did not do any type of meditation. Not only were the benefits virtually non-existent, it was also found that those who were more likely to mental health issues they suffered Side effects after meditation.
Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that many of the people who claim to have benefited from meditation did so for the sake of Placebo effect.
So is meditation harmful?
All this means that meditation should be a tool of psychology. That is, they should be psychologists those who decide who should meditate, in what way, and under what circumstances.
Do it broadly, without counting on help from a professional, This can be completely counterproductive. Many of the people who teach mindfulness courses have no training in psychology. Their training in meditation may give us a sense of security, but their lack of knowledge in psychology can lead to misuse of the techniques.
So if your psychologist has recommended meditation, don’t worry, it might be good for you. But if your favorite influencer has recommended a trendy mindfulness app, you might want to think twice before trying it. And if you try it and feel uncomfortable, nervous, or stressed, don’t continue. Meditation might not be for you.
Source: Hiper Textual
