Everyone goes on about meditation, but apparently it's not all sunshine and roses and being really chilled out, man. Apparently, it can cause mania, hallucinations, depression and psychosis – according to two psychologists.
'The assumption of the majority of both TM (transcendental meditation) and mindfulness researchers is that meditation can only do one good. This shows a rather narrow-minded view,' Dr Miguel Farias, the head of the brain, belief, and behaviour research group at Coventry University told The Times. 'How can a technique that allows you to look within and change your perception or reality of yourself be without potential adverse effects?'
While researching upcoming book *The Buddha Pill: Can Meditation Change You? *where Farias and Catherine Wikholm, a researcher in clinical psychology at the University of Surrey, bust the myths surrounding meditation and mindfulness, they found studies revealing that meditation actually raises your stress hormones. A particular US study found that 63% of those who had been on meditation retreats found one adverse side effect, ranging from confusion to panic and depression. One in 14 had experienced 'profoundly adverse effects'. Catherine Wikholm said: 'It is hard to have a balanced view when the media is full of articles attesting to the benefits of meditation and mindfulness. We need to be aware that the reports of benefits are often inflated… whereas studies that do not discover significant benefits rarely pick up media interest and negative effects are seldom talked about.' Bit worrying.
Actually, is it worrying? Or is it just something we now don't have to worry about, like not eating carbs (carbs are fine!) and getting a specific amount of sleep a night (who gives a shit!). Not sure about you, but mindfulness is constantly being shoved down our throats from every angle - we'd started to get a bit stressed about the fact we weren't meditating all the time, so now we can just actually chill out rather than worrying about how stressed we are due to a lack of mindfulness. Every week something else is pushed – whether it be pulling oil through your teeth, Pilates, only looking at red objects etc – and while they're all probably beneficial in some ways, there is no miracle cure.
Mindfulness-based therapy is used by the NHS to prevent relapses of depression, and it is proven to work extremely well. However, this research shows that, like any other treatment or practise, there's always a risk or a side effect depending on the person. We're sort of glad that it's not the Answer To All Life's Problems as it was previously billed as. Because, quite frankly, Katy Perry might enjoy meditating but some of us have 9-5 jobs, hour-long commutes, and no time to rest unless we're snoring. And that's OK.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.